[hootie]

I may be the first to say it, but I honestly think that Pikeville is on the same level as SV. You may say that Valley didn't bring their A game or was looking ahead but I strongly disagree.

Pikeville is a district rival of SV, enough of one that they did a little bit of storming the court after their win a week ago, so I doubt they were "overlooked", especially in a win or go home tournament...The first half SV played well and hard.

Which brings me to my next point - Pikeville was getting good shots the first 1 1/2 quarters but they weren't falling. They controlled the pace with varying defenses and a solid half-court offense, but had trouble scoring, so they fell behind by 10.

Then halfway through the 2nd, shots started falling and at halftime SVs lead was 1.

Pikeville came out strong at the beginning of the 3rd, pulling slightly ahead. And then SV was thrown into a position they rarely, if ever around here, get into. They had to come back from a second half deficate against a good team. This IMO made them very uncomfortable, so they took ill-advised 3-pointers and made bad passes. Pikeville did a resonable job sealing the deal.

Many of you are saying that the Technical of Bryant was very big...It may have been a factor, but IMO it really wasn't game-changing - Pikeville was up by 6 and had the ball when the fouls occurred, and gained only 4 points, as they turned it over on the possession after the free throws.

IMO Pikeville and SV are on the same playing field...The only advantage I would give would be to SVs closing - If they have a 4 point lead and the ball at any point in the 4th quarter, they win (because this is the situation they are most comfortable in).

It causing them to have a ten point lead is huge in the 4th quarter in a game like this. That can take the air out of a team.