[Hillbilly Heartthrob]

Congrats ER on the big win over Valley. The big kid for ER had one of the best dunks I have seen in high school basketball, then with the trash talking, took himself out of the game. Miller shot lights out for ER. the big kid for Valley needs to hit the weight room if he wants to be a force in the region.

Cody was a force in the region this year, that was obvious.

Anyway, Ray and Tony are a couple of great athletes and I love watching them play, something I noticed though, that they lack a good "basketball IQ".
Tony has great handles but sometimes he puts hisself in bad situations, but he is young. As for Ray, he is a freak but his attitude gets the best of him. I think ER would have won by more If when Kasongo was in the game they would have fed him, he was working his butt off and they wouldnt dump it to him. If Miller makes his first shot, He's lights out!

Great Job ER, You were the most prepared team!

As far as Valley goes, I've watched since I was little through the good and bad and I can honestly say I do NOT like watching this team play for many reasons but not have the combination of GUTS and HEART kills them.

Belter didn't seem like his normal self, Dalton I thought had a good game!, the seniors were quite, Hamilton takes too many bad shots.

and most of all, Newsome needs a lot of practice to compete in this region, He turns the ball over consistantly (more than a big man should) and once the ball hits his hands it stays there, He takes too long to get the ball out.

^ I love these kids but they should have been taught these things throughout the year, no excuse for the non-preperation

GOODLUCK to ER and Pikeville! I wanna see ER and SC play!....would love to see Kasongo and Johnson go at it!

[BlueSky]

Attitude pretty awesome too...... Light years from D1. Not sure if people understand how hard it is to be a D1 player

[region]

Great game by ER, and even though the dunk was awesome, ER is better most the time without Kasongo on the floor.

[Micro-Brew]

I was wrong on this one. Congrats Warriors!!! Something had to have happened with Valley this year, too much talent (even though its young talent) for this type of showing the last 3 weeks of the season. I'm sure they'll be back in the thick of things in the future.

[PHSForever]

I was wrong on this one. Congrats Warriors!!! Something had to have happened with Valley this year, too much talent (even though its young talent) for this type of showing the last 3 weeks of the season. I'm sure they'll be back in the thick of things in the future.

What happened, in my opinion, began with the shellacking they took from Pikeville. I honestly believe that just demoralized them. The body language, actions, etc during and after that game by the coaching staff and players was completely different than before. As I've said on another thread, I sat behind the Valley bench, and Coach Newsome and all the players just seemed at a loss. They've got talent, no doubt, but they lack a killer instinct, for one, and lack adequate ball handlers for two. The Belter kid has the potential to be a very good player. But as I have also said, he is just too easily pushed around right now, and is too slow to help them in transition D. Even after a made Valley basket (usually by him), Pikeville had the ball inbounded and was pushing upcourt before he made halfcourt. That's one of the reasons Coach Newsome sat him for so long, I believe, to try and slow that down with a quicker person in for Belter.

[Real Badman]

Congrats to ER, I am so happy to see them in the regional tourney. They will bring a ton of fans and if Pikeville doesn't win I will be rooting for ER. Really most people don't know the history of the school, but Elkhorn City, Millard and Feds Creek know a TON of basketball, and all sports for that matter. ingleparingleparinglepar

I don't think I've ever saw you post anything positive about East Ridge. Respect.

[doubledown]

Thought shelby valley would keep regional title streak alive.
Good job east ridge & good luck the rest of the way

[#1 Blackcat Fan]

That reminds me. I wasn't at the game, but I've seen pics, and I really had no idea Belter is that tall. Gah..tallest in the Region at 6'10 and a Soph, correct?

It's going to be fun watch Belter and ER's Miller for the next few years...

The game i seen him play at the expo this year he was announced as 7'00".

[vundy33]

The game i seen him play at the expo this year he was announced as 7'00".

Wow...

[Belfry0304]

The taller you bill him, the more impressive Ray's poster was! My God that dunk was crazy, my whole section of Belfry kids was ready to go if he dunked again. Effortless! Too bad the kid is a nuckin' fut and likes to taunt, lol!

[vundy33]

Wish I could see that dunk. I know Ray can absolutely dunk the hell out of it, kind of used to it by now, lol.

But I was just surprised at how tall Belter was. Don't see that kind of height in EKY very often...