Greenwood @ Allen County Scottsville 11-27-07

When Southern women see an ugly baby, they cannot bring themselves to lie about the child's looks. Nothing could ever make them say that a baby was ugly. Instead, they say, "bless its little heart."

If any magnolia blossoms were at Tuesday night's Greenwood vs. Allen County-Scottsville basketball game, they left the gym saying "bless its little heart." It was an ugly game. U-G-L-Y. If the gaggle of Fourth Region coaches in attendance threw a DVD of the game into an Allen County farm pond, they could skim ugly off of it for a week. No one would ask this game to the prom.

Greenwood played the first half as if it had no game plan beyond players putting their heads down and driving for the hoop. They spread the defense out, and a player took off for the basket and the others followed right behind him. It was reminiscent of film footage from the old American Gladiators show, and I was expecting everyone to start calling the players "Storm" and "Ice" and "Tower."

Allen County-Scottsville's players had one thing in mind in the first half: get the ball in the hands of Jay Starks. He's the Patriot's go-to-guy this season, and one of the few on the squad that has much experience. He's good, too, possibly one of the best players in the Fourth Region this year. He's a big guard with quick hands and a quicker first step to the basket. He will be a thorn in the side of Fourth Region teams all year. Tuesday night, however, the Patriot squad seemed desperate to get the ball into his hands. On more than one occasion I saw one of his teammate's pass the ball to him instead of passing it to a player in a better position or at a better angle on the court.

I sensed that the other Fourth Region coaches in the stands were frustrated at not really seeing any kind of plays or set offense from either team. I just kind of sensed it from them. I think I even saw them swapping notes.

Despite the daredevil offense by the Gators, they went in the locker room at halftime with a 35-26 lead on ACS.

Allen County was a different team after the break. Scott Shelton must have gotten after his players, and they responded. They played better defense and seemed to frustrate the Gators. Greenwood, inexplicably, quit pressing Allen County in the second half, and the Patriots took advantage of the half court defense. Plus, they started distributing the ball better, and Anthony Graves responding with some key baskets, which took some of the pressure off of Starks, who finished the game with 18. I thought he had about 28, but that's because he must've scored most of their first half points. Graves finished with 16 points.

Greenwood looked like they wore down during the second half. I think their point totals in each quarter backs this up: 19, 16, 10, 9. They seemed to be out of gas at the end of the contest.

Allen County found the momentum in the second half, outscoring the tiring Gators 31-19 in the second frame. The game was tight in the fourth quarter, and with about six minutes left in the game Starks went down under the Greenwood goal with a massive muscle cramp in his leg. I heard that they made him down a bunch of pickle juice to keep him from cramping again. He came back in the game and made some big plays. I'm sure the Greenwood players loved getting in his face after drinking pickle juice.

That could be a good nickname for him: Jay "Pickle Juice" Starks.

Allen County won the ugly contest 56-54. Bless their little hearts.

Dee Anderson, the smooth playing guard for the Gators, severely injured his knee this summer and missed the entire football season. He started last night, but sported a huge brace that looked like it went from the top of his thigh to his ankle. It looked like they took a leg off of a Terminator and put it on Anderson. He had no lateral movement and seemed to be in pain through most of the game. He scored five points last night. He's not the same player right now. I'm sure that he will be back, but I'm wondering if he'll reach 100% this season. It's a shame. From all accounts, I hear that he is a good kid, and I know he's a good basketball player.

OBSERVATIONS

HORSHOES ANYONE?
I love Allen County-Scottsville's gym. It is a horseshoe with roll-out seats down low and concrete stands above them. Steel girders cross the ceiling above the court, and the home side has chairback seats. A bank of wooden bleachers are at the open end of horseshoe, and ACS students fill them. It reminded me of when I lived in Shelby County and was a regular at the Eight Region Tournament at Henry County High School, whose gym is also a horseshoe.

STROKE!!
Allen County's band rocks. They led off with "The Stroke" by Billy Squier. I don't think I've ever heard a band play that song, especially not a high school one. They played some other rock classics, and they played them well, too. They do a good job with their fight song, which is Notre Dame's. I love that song. "Shake all the thunder down from the sky" are probably the best lyrics in the entire library of fight songs.

WHITNEY HOUSTON?
Every time Mark Lacey shot free throws in the second half the ACS students chanted "WHITNEY CHEATED! WHITNEY CHEATED! WHITNEY CHEATED!" I always thought it was Bobby Brown that cheated, and I still can't figure out what Mark Lacey has to do with it.

LIFE AFTER THE GRAVES
Allen County has another kid named Graves, but he's no relation to the hot shooting Luc Graves, who graduated last season. The latest version of Graves should give the Patriots life after the departure of Luc variety of Graves.