St. Edward Basketball '20-'21

EaglePride01 said:
Eagles drop their first game of the year. Not a shocker playing their third game in as many days against a good Shaker team. Only two days off before they take on a loaded Lutheran East team.
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I thought Bova looked very out of sorts. Turnovers and little scoring.
 
Bertha said:
what was the Shaker game final score ??
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Shaker Heights won 77-71. It was back and forth for the first three quarters, with neither team ever leading by more than five points. Shaker took the lead early in the fourth quarter and never relinquished it. Overall, the deciding factors were the Eagles turnovers and subpar outside shooting and the Red Raiders strong offensive rebounding.
 
From what I have seen, the eagles don’t have guys that can penetrate and draw the fouls or kick out for the uncontested three. They seem to give up a lot of threes, perhaps it’s because kids now a days shoot them like free throws, but the percentage is high nonetheless. Good showing thus far with a non-experienced group though!
 
eaglepride said:
From what I have seen, the eagles don’t have guys that can penetrate and draw the fouls or kick out for the uncontested three. They seem to give up a lot of threes, perhaps it’s because kids now a days shoot them like free throws, but the percentage is high nonetheless. Good showing thus far with a non-experienced group though!
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Bova penetrates about as good as any guard I've seen in green and gold, and gets to the line pretty frequently. We don't have a lot of guys that can create their own shots, but he definitely can. If your comments relate to the recent game against Shaker, that seems to be an outlier so far as to the product this team has put on the floor to date. The February slate of games will tell us a lot about what we should expect come March.
 
EaglePride01 said:
Bova penetrates about as good as any guard I've seen in green and gold, and gets to the line pretty frequently. We don't have a lot of guys that can create their own shots, but he definitely can. If your comments relate to the recent game against Shaker, that seems to be an outlier so far as to the product this team has put on the floor to date. The February slate of games will tell us a lot about what we should expect come March.
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I liked the way Logan would be able to take the ball to the hoop. But Bova is very good and has been one of the best in recent years. Match that will the solid coaching of Flan and this team has done very well and will continue to do very well.
 
Watch the games streaming so just my observation. Seemed understandably slow and tired vs Shaker. If Bova scores half his usual, they win.
 
Good win against CCC tonight. Ignatius week and thought they looked like a tough matchup last time played. Let’s sweep um.
 
Not that either team ever needs extra motivation in these matchups, but the Eagles will have the AP#1 target on their backs heading into Friday. The first game saw the Eagles shooting lights out early on and build a lead they never relinquished. Ignatius made a game of it in the second half with pressure defense and attacking inside. Their talented freshman rose to the occasion when called on, and I'd expect to see more minutes out of them the second time around. Going to be a good one.
 
Will be a typical 2nd game with little if anything shown by the Eagles. Flan knows good chance a 3rd game is coming. I expect a very bland game from the Eagles. Waiting on game 3. The only game that will matter.
 
mailman112 said:
Will be a typical 2nd game with little if anything shown by the Eagles. Flan knows good chance a 3rd game is coming. I expect a very bland game from the Eagles. Waiting on game 3. The only game that will matter.
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Apparently we didn’t want to show them what it looks like when the ball goes through the basket! Rough offensive night for the Eagles, but the Wildcats deserve a lot of credit for their defense. We saw it the second half of the first game after a blistering start, and they carried it into Friday’s game at Sullivan. Taking away the inside and forcing Ed’s to hit from outside. In round one they were shooting well, in round two not at all. Fingers crossed for a round three where, as you mentioned, we’ll see what Flan cooks up to combat the size and physicality of the Cats defense.
 
Eagles overcome a 20-point deficit (and an extremely annoying Lutheran East fan) to nip the Falcons in the last second as Jair Knight hits two clutch free throws. Highlights below courtesy of NEO HS Sports.

 
Eagles will wrap up the regular season on Wednesday as they play host to a very good Warrensville Heights team. The month of February has played out about as brutal as it looked on paper. They've lost three of the last four, which very well could have been four in a row if not for a kind iron on the front end of Knight's game clinching free throws against Lutheran East. Flan's goal is always to play a schedule that will prepare the team for March. This schedule is certainly that, but it has also brought to light the lack of reliable scorers outside of Bova. Ignatius, SVSM, and Centerville all play a high level of defense, and we just don't have enough guys that can create their own shots. Ball movement and spacing on the offensive end will be crucial as this team moves deeper into the brackets.
 
The regular season finale against Warrensville Heights was cancelled. Next up will be the opening game of the district tournament on the 27th, two weeks from the last time the Eagles took the court. Luckily the seeding was in prior to this brutal February stretch. This team may need a few a games against lesser opponents to get their mojo back.
 
Hard to believe one of those last second tips couldn't find the bottom of the net. Tough way to end the season against your arch rival, but I felt this team largely overachieved this year given the inexperience and overall talent level. While they seemed to play better early in the year as opposed to late, this was never a team that had a very high ceiling. I think they reached their peak right before they briefly held the #1 ranking in the state (which was more so by default than anything else).

Eagles will bring back their most important piece next year in Michael Bova, who should be one of the front-runners for POY in the NE Lakes District. Freer-Brown and Jair Knight, both very capable 5th men this year, should occupy the other guard spots. One of them will have to step up as a consistent scoring threat to pair with Bova. We were too reliant on him for offense this year. As Ignatius exhibited last night and in the second matchup, no one else on the team seemed capable of taking their man off the dribble when pressure was applied at the perimeter. The font court will be the bigger question mark. Lavelle is an underrated guy who is crafty around the basket and could become the second best scoring option, but he's not a banger down low. Wendell Henry saw decent minutes as a freshman, and could develop into a solid big. Maybe the Armstrong twins will be ready to contribute at the varsity level next year as sophomores. Other than them, I don't see much size coming up through the ranks.
 
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