Citizens First Holiday Classic @ Bowling Green High School

Grayson County vs. Pineville

They came from the east. They followed no star. They rode no camels. They did not bring gold, frankincense, or myrrh. What the Pineville Mountain Lions brought was an old school style of basketball that I love to watch. They move the ball around the perimeter with precise passing and great patience. They pick. They roll. Players get open and they get the pass for the good shot. Everyone on the team can sizzle the nets from anywhere on the court.

I guess Grayson County assumed the role of King Herod in Wednesday's nightcap game of the Citizens First Holiday Classic in Bowling Green. They weren't going to let these basketball kings from the east trick them and get away.

I was anxious to see Pineville play. I don't get to see teams from the east, and I love their hustling brand of basketball.

Grayson County opened the game in a 2-3 zone, and having talked to some Pineville fans, I thought they were suicidal. The Mountain Lions attacked the zone with precision. They launched beautiful jump shots that were both quick and accurate. They moved the ball around the perimeter and found every niche and every napping Cougar player for easy baskets.

James David Strange plays guard for Pineville. It's no coincidence that the coach's name is J.D. Strange. The kid is the epitome of a coach's son and shows all the characteristics of a gym rat who probably dribbled a basketball before his mother quit putting a blanket over his head to feed him in public. He hustles. He executes well on defense. He has a textbook jump shot, and he gets mad at himself for making mistakes.

Strange nailed a near mid-court three point shot as time ran out of the first quarter, and the Mountain Lions had a 18-10 lead on the other brand of cats from Grayson County.

Different cats and different kinds of schools. I've always noticed this difference, too. County schools have the luxury of drawing from all parts of the county, and they have a large pool of basketball talent from which to draw. City schools, like Pineville, are smaller districts, and they have a limited number of kids from which to build a team. The advantage that a Pineville has over a Grayson County is that they are usually fed by just one junior high school and one elementary. Grayson County has one junior high (I think) but several different elementaries.

Pineville's players, according a parent of one of the players, have been playing together for a very long time. It showed in the first half, too. They played with the kind of precision that only a group of kids completely familiar with one another can play. Those teams seem to have a bond that goes further and deeper than just being a team.

In the second quarter, Grayson County started to come to life. The cougars were starting to stir and prowl. They held their mountain counterparts to just seven second quarter points, while they scored 13.

Wait a second! Cougars and Mountain Lions are the same danged animal. I saw the Panthers play in the first game of the day. They are all the same kind of cat. Maybe they should call Bowling Green's gym "The Litter Pan" this week.

Grayson County started the second half with a well played, tight man-to-man defense. I guess they were tired of Pineville's deadly shooting, so they stepped it up and got into their faces. It worked, too. Pineville couldn't find the open shot, and they got frustrated. The Cougars smelled blood and found the confidence they lacked in the first half. They held the Mountain Lions to just two third quarter points and took a commanding 40-27 lead going into the final frame.

Coach J.D. Strange benched their big center, Dustin Day, late in the third quarter and started busting his chops for lackadaisical play. He stalked back-and-forth in front of the kid and said, "you're 6'6" and your letting them push you around. Let me know when you're ready to play."

I don't know a lot about Grayson County, so I'm just taking a guess. I'm guessing that Travis Johnston is head coach Todd Johnston's son. Another coach's kid? He showed all the signs of being a coach's kid, just like James David Strange from Pineville. Johnston play stick-tight defense and made some big shots down the stretch of the game.

Bennett Skaggs for the Cougars also impressed me. He's a gritty ballplayer. He disrupted Pineville's guards on one play and tapped the ball into the backcourt. He dived after the ball three different times and I could hear his skin screeching across the hardwood each time. He eventually knocked the ball out of bounds on the baseline. I called him the "Floor Burn King." I love players who will do stuff like that. I bet he has some raspberries for breakfast this morning, but they're not the ones anyone wants.

Pineville outplayed Grayson County in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late. They could not overcome their terrible performance in the third.

Grayson County won 57-46.

I got to talk to a couple of Pineville fans, one of whom was Will Lambdin's father. I used to travel to Pineville a lot, and it is one of my favorite places in the state. If you've never been to Chained Rock, go. It is one of the most impressive vistas in the Commonwealth, and you'll realize that the chain will never keep that rock from tumbling down on Pineville.

OBSERVATIONS

D-Day: Pineville's Dustin Day applied one of the nastiests picks I've seen for a long time on Grayson County's Bennett "Floor Burn" Skaggs. He knocked the crap out of the kid and turned and looked at his coach for a scolding. He got called for the foul, and Skaggs was a bit rattled. He laid on the court for a long time looking like he'd gone a round with Mike Tyson. No, Day didn't bit his ear off.

People Are Strange: Is J.D. Strange the same one who coached at Allen County-Scottsville several years ago? I haven't had time to check it out. I may be completely mistaken about this. He never loses his cool in timeouts, but Coach Strange will absolutely bust his players' chops while the game is going on. He's not mean, but he knows how to needle them into playing better or tougher. I say behind Pineville's bench, and I really like his coaching style.

Disparity?: Late in the fourth quarter the officials had called 11 fouls on Pineville and only one on Grayson County. Coach Strange wasn't upset about it, so I wasn't either. I really didn't think the Mountain Lions were getting "jobbed" until I looked at the scoreboard. I just wonder, though.