McLean County vs. Calloway County 12-27-07
This was my first trip to Jeffrey Gymnasium at Calloway County High School, which is named for former Superintendent Buron "Boots" Jeffrey. The gym is a sunken horseshoe, which fans enter from the top, and the home side has plastic chair back seats while the rest are metal and plastic bleachers. It's a great place to watch a basketball game. I loved it. According to the program, Calloway County has called Jeffrey Gym home for 46 seasons, and their record there is 332 wins against 207 losses for a 61.6% winning percentage (a team should win about 75% of its home games). It holds 2,700 fans.
I wish that the locals called it "The Boot" to honor ole Buron. They could go German and call it "Das Boot," but that would be too Wolfgang Petersen.
I had no idea what to expect out of these two teams. I'm not a regular of First Region games, and I've never seen McLean County play, despite having several transplanted cousins attend high school there. I know that they're not a traditional Third Region power.
Calloway County beat Mayfield in overtime earlier in the day, which stretched their record to 8-2, which is a great start considering they lost all five starters off of last year's squad. I sort of thought that the Lakers might be the whipping boy of the First Region this season, but they are proving me wrong.
The first half of this game was like a Marvelous Marvin Haggler vs. Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns boxing match. Both threw a lot of punches, and both took a lot of punches. At the end of the first quarter, the game was tied at 15. At the end of the half it was tied at 28. The two teams played 16 minutes of basketball and accomplished nothing. It was sort of like getting to the fifth round of one of those legendary pugilist matches between Haggler and Hearns.
McLean County's 6'4" center, Nick Heflin, caught my eye. He showed good hands for catching passes and a soft touch around the rim. The Cougars have a sharp little play they use when attacking a zone. They throw a skip pass right over the top of the key, and the wing player throws a quick pass into the post, who has position on the block. It worked real well for them in the first half. They shot 64% from the field.
Josh Whitt, a senior guard, is the Cougars' floor leader. I liked the way he handled himself on the court, and he played very good defense. McLean started three seniors and two juniors.
Calloway County, on the other hand, has no seniors on this year's squad. They start three juniors and two sophomores. They are very young.
One sophomore is a forward/center named Tyrell Willis. He's 6'3" 225 pounds and is built more like a sophomore at Murray State than a one in high school. He stout and muscular, and his frame makes him look shorter than he really is. He's quick and has good leaping ability. He was lost on defense sometimes, but, heck, the guy is in his second year of high school basketball.
I've never seen anything like this. At halftime nearly every little boy in the gym came down onto the court and played or shot basketball. They freely go to a ball cart at one end of the court and take balls and shoot them. It was bedlam on the court between halves and no one seemed to care. I thought it was pretty cool. My four year old would be ecstatic at such an opportunity. When the teams returned the floor, the kids put the balls up or threw them to players and there were no problems. It looks like it may be a tradition at Jeffrey Gym -- a good one.
Calloway County picked up their defensive energy to start the third quarter. By the 5:15 mark they had a 39-30 advantage, and they outscored the Cougars 20-14 in the frame to take a 48-42 lead into the fourth.
Laker forward, Joseph Kelly, whose brother Benji starred for the Lakers in the late 1980s, caught fire in the second half. He opened the fourth quarter with a 3 point goal and hit some other big baskets that took the air out of McLean. Kelly is not a starter but plays a considerable number of minutes. I can tell that his big brother has put some smack down on him in the driveway at home because the kid can play under pressure.
McLean County was spent in the fourth quarter. They executed their skip pass and touch pass to the post several times in the second half. They got the ball where it needed to be, but the post player could not finish the play. They looked tired, and they had already lost to Mayfield in the afternoon match up, so they probably had no legs left.
In 1980, the Louisville Cardinals had a player named Pancho Wright, who came off of the bench for Denny Crum's national championship team. Pancho coined the now famous phrase "The Ville is goin to Naptown." Wright wasn't know for his passing ability, but he had a fantastic high arching jumpshot that he rarely missed. McLean's Chris "NCAA" Bracket let a 24 foot jumper fly tonight that I thought was going to scrape the rafters at Jeffrey Gym. It probably hit the radar at Paducah's airport it was so high, and it hit nothing but net.
Despite Bracket's arching three pointer, the Cougars cooled off in the second half. They ended up shooting 43% for the game. Calloway County out rebounded them 41-27.
The Lakers put up 27 fourth quarter points, while McLean scored 13. Calloway won 75-55.
OBSERVATIONS
Old Timers?: At halftime the Lakers hosted an "Old Timers Shootout." They brought out Benji Kelly from their 1989 squad and another guy from a team in the 1990s for a free throw shooting contest. The 1990s "old timer" missed all five of his shots. Benji Kelly shot with beautiful form, had nice rotation on the ball, and a good straight line. His first four shots toed off the front of the rim. He hit is his fifth one, though. Little brother Joseph fared much better in the second half.
Plus, how the heck can you call these guys "old timers"? They're younger than me.
Save the Zebras: I didn't catch the names of tonight's officiating crew, but they did an excellent job. They talked to the players and warned them for rough play instead of blowing their whistles every nine or ten seconds. It was well called and well handled.
Bumpus Hounds: Since I've seen the movie "A Christmas Story" about twenty times since Thanksgiving, I couldn't help but notice that one of Calloway County's players was named Jordan Bumpus. I wonder if he's had a hound dog get his ear caught in a neighbor's door.
Where's His Propeller Beanie?: Calloway County frosh Brock Simmons has a wonderful jump shot. He hit one or two very nice three pointers, and he plays solid basketball. He doesn't start but comes in the game soon after the start of the half and plays most of the game. He tried to drive the lane against McLean County, but they made him eat Spalding. Simmons is going to be a good ballplayer, though.
This was my first trip to Jeffrey Gymnasium at Calloway County High School, which is named for former Superintendent Buron "Boots" Jeffrey. The gym is a sunken horseshoe, which fans enter from the top, and the home side has plastic chair back seats while the rest are metal and plastic bleachers. It's a great place to watch a basketball game. I loved it. According to the program, Calloway County has called Jeffrey Gym home for 46 seasons, and their record there is 332 wins against 207 losses for a 61.6% winning percentage (a team should win about 75% of its home games). It holds 2,700 fans.
I wish that the locals called it "The Boot" to honor ole Buron. They could go German and call it "Das Boot," but that would be too Wolfgang Petersen.
I had no idea what to expect out of these two teams. I'm not a regular of First Region games, and I've never seen McLean County play, despite having several transplanted cousins attend high school there. I know that they're not a traditional Third Region power.
Calloway County beat Mayfield in overtime earlier in the day, which stretched their record to 8-2, which is a great start considering they lost all five starters off of last year's squad. I sort of thought that the Lakers might be the whipping boy of the First Region this season, but they are proving me wrong.
The first half of this game was like a Marvelous Marvin Haggler vs. Thomas "Hit Man" Hearns boxing match. Both threw a lot of punches, and both took a lot of punches. At the end of the first quarter, the game was tied at 15. At the end of the half it was tied at 28. The two teams played 16 minutes of basketball and accomplished nothing. It was sort of like getting to the fifth round of one of those legendary pugilist matches between Haggler and Hearns.
McLean County's 6'4" center, Nick Heflin, caught my eye. He showed good hands for catching passes and a soft touch around the rim. The Cougars have a sharp little play they use when attacking a zone. They throw a skip pass right over the top of the key, and the wing player throws a quick pass into the post, who has position on the block. It worked real well for them in the first half. They shot 64% from the field.
Josh Whitt, a senior guard, is the Cougars' floor leader. I liked the way he handled himself on the court, and he played very good defense. McLean started three seniors and two juniors.
Calloway County, on the other hand, has no seniors on this year's squad. They start three juniors and two sophomores. They are very young.
One sophomore is a forward/center named Tyrell Willis. He's 6'3" 225 pounds and is built more like a sophomore at Murray State than a one in high school. He stout and muscular, and his frame makes him look shorter than he really is. He's quick and has good leaping ability. He was lost on defense sometimes, but, heck, the guy is in his second year of high school basketball.
I've never seen anything like this. At halftime nearly every little boy in the gym came down onto the court and played or shot basketball. They freely go to a ball cart at one end of the court and take balls and shoot them. It was bedlam on the court between halves and no one seemed to care. I thought it was pretty cool. My four year old would be ecstatic at such an opportunity. When the teams returned the floor, the kids put the balls up or threw them to players and there were no problems. It looks like it may be a tradition at Jeffrey Gym -- a good one.
Calloway County picked up their defensive energy to start the third quarter. By the 5:15 mark they had a 39-30 advantage, and they outscored the Cougars 20-14 in the frame to take a 48-42 lead into the fourth.
Laker forward, Joseph Kelly, whose brother Benji starred for the Lakers in the late 1980s, caught fire in the second half. He opened the fourth quarter with a 3 point goal and hit some other big baskets that took the air out of McLean. Kelly is not a starter but plays a considerable number of minutes. I can tell that his big brother has put some smack down on him in the driveway at home because the kid can play under pressure.
McLean County was spent in the fourth quarter. They executed their skip pass and touch pass to the post several times in the second half. They got the ball where it needed to be, but the post player could not finish the play. They looked tired, and they had already lost to Mayfield in the afternoon match up, so they probably had no legs left.
In 1980, the Louisville Cardinals had a player named Pancho Wright, who came off of the bench for Denny Crum's national championship team. Pancho coined the now famous phrase "The Ville is goin to Naptown." Wright wasn't know for his passing ability, but he had a fantastic high arching jumpshot that he rarely missed. McLean's Chris "NCAA" Bracket let a 24 foot jumper fly tonight that I thought was going to scrape the rafters at Jeffrey Gym. It probably hit the radar at Paducah's airport it was so high, and it hit nothing but net.
Despite Bracket's arching three pointer, the Cougars cooled off in the second half. They ended up shooting 43% for the game. Calloway County out rebounded them 41-27.
The Lakers put up 27 fourth quarter points, while McLean scored 13. Calloway won 75-55.
OBSERVATIONS
Old Timers?: At halftime the Lakers hosted an "Old Timers Shootout." They brought out Benji Kelly from their 1989 squad and another guy from a team in the 1990s for a free throw shooting contest. The 1990s "old timer" missed all five of his shots. Benji Kelly shot with beautiful form, had nice rotation on the ball, and a good straight line. His first four shots toed off the front of the rim. He hit is his fifth one, though. Little brother Joseph fared much better in the second half.
Plus, how the heck can you call these guys "old timers"? They're younger than me.
Save the Zebras: I didn't catch the names of tonight's officiating crew, but they did an excellent job. They talked to the players and warned them for rough play instead of blowing their whistles every nine or ten seconds. It was well called and well handled.
Bumpus Hounds: Since I've seen the movie "A Christmas Story" about twenty times since Thanksgiving, I couldn't help but notice that one of Calloway County's players was named Jordan Bumpus. I wonder if he's had a hound dog get his ear caught in a neighbor's door.
Where's His Propeller Beanie?: Calloway County frosh Brock Simmons has a wonderful jump shot. He hit one or two very nice three pointers, and he plays solid basketball. He doesn't start but comes in the game soon after the start of the half and plays most of the game. He tried to drive the lane against McLean County, but they made him eat Spalding. Simmons is going to be a good ballplayer, though.
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