... great high school basketball tonight down in VC ... something for everyone in this one - defense in the paint on the big boy for Vinton Co. Dustin Guthrie (15 points) , 3 balls - 11 treys on the evening , wounded players going out of the game (Josh Kellough cut on the chin/Andy Grillo cut on the head) - both returned after being taped up to finish the game , great one on one defense ( Ben Batey on Josh Kellough in the 3rd period holding Josh K. to zero points - this after Josh K. lit up VC for 16 in the first half - Batey left the 3rd quarter for a break Josh Kellough rang up 2 fgs vs Stewart in the last 1:05 seconds of the 3rd) ... big lead - Huntington ran out to a 33-20 lead at the half ... big comeback - Vinton County roared back in the 3rd period on a 16-2 run to open the quarter taking the lead 36-35 with 3:47 to go in the 3rd ... great TEAM defense - BOTH teams can play D ... bottom line - 2 quality TEAMS went toe to toe with the Huntsmen of Huntington able to raise the gloves as the buzzer sounded ...
Huntington 61 Vinton County 57 a final ...
Vinton County napkin stats ...
Scoring ... Ryan Stewart 16/Dustin Guthrie 15/Andy Eberts 11/Andy Grillo 9/Ben Batey 4/Jake Prater 2 ...
3 Pointers ... 7/21 ... ONLY 2/12 in the first half imo the poor perimeter shooting in the first half was THE DIFFERENCE in the game ... never able to pull the double team off of D. Guthrie in the first half by hitting the outside shot ... Andy Eberts 3/Stewart 2/D. Guthrie 1/Grillo 1 ...
FT's ... 4/8 ... the FT total shows that VC wasn't able to get the ball into Guthrie down low as much as they wanted or needed to in this one ...
TOs ... 17 ... none bigger than 2 TOs late in the 4th when VC got the score within 3 points ... both TO were turned into Huntsmen transition baskets to open up breathing room and force VC to foul down the stretch ...
Huntington Napkin Stats ...
Scoring ... Josh Kellough 25/Justin Kellough 24/Zach Riley 4/Magill 3/Sams 3/Trusty 2 ...
3 Pointers ... 4/14 ... Josh Kellough 2/Justin Kellough 1/Magill 1 ...
FT's ... 11/20
TO's ... 14
Pfloyd IMO's
* Josh Kellough/Justin Kellough BOTH outstanding basketball players ... 2 of the strongest players I have seen WITH THE BALL ... oh yeh by the way Josh Kellough will win POY again in the SVC simply a playa - smart/a scorer - set up his defender taking an NBA trey early in the first , used that shot to set up his drives to the rim the rest of the game , heck of player ...
* Vinton County - as I posted above - didn't have it from the perimeter in the first two qtrs. neither Stewart or Eberts got it going until the 3rd period ... imo this was the difference in the game ...
* BOTH of these teams will be tough outs in the post season - I wouldn't want to run into either in the one and done season ...
* Coach Combs' adjustments at half time made this one a ball game ... moving Batey to guard Josh Kellough in the 3rd - great move ... took HHS offense out of their rhythm ... had Grillo NOT been out of the game for 3 minutes in the 4th due to getting patched up - those 2 big TOs might not have happened - just might have been a different story imo ... BUT ...
... glad I had the opportunity to see both of these fine teams in the regular season ... look forward to seeing both in the 2nd season ... everything that was hyped about this one was true on both sides ... best of luck to both teams as they head into the 2008 part of the season ...
