Thoughts on the Pizza Hut Invitational from last night and going into today’s Final Games at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center

Excellent GDS-PAGE boys game, it almost had that championship sort of feel to it…..31-27 at the half for GDS-PAGE with the Bengals in front and then 19-10 PAGE out-scoring GDS in the third quarter….James Summers made some super passes for Page last night and Bryson Fonville was really getting to the basket after getting loose in the lane….Frank Eaves was his usual Frank Eaves self in the big games….Page had the 8 point lead in the 3rd quarter and then GDS battled back….JT John Terry hit a real long 3-pointer and Jalen Ross was keeping the Bengals within striking distance….Would hate to try and play defense on those kids from either team, very quick with Fonville, Eaves, Spain, Ross, Terry and others…..Page missed a gimme shot on the inside late and then the box-out on the missed free throw, with I think 3.8 seconds left may have helped GDS more than if they would have made the free throw….With the miss and the rebound grab, GDS runs out the time on the clock….Would love to watch that game back again on tape….When they are running LIVE they happen and go so fast, you don’t have the time to enjoy them and by calling all the games on the web and on the radio this week, it has been keeping us very busy….

#1 vs. #2 in the boys and girls finals, Seeding chief has to feel good about that….Page fans need to get behind Paris Kea, Kayla Johnson and the Pirates’ rebounding tandem of Chelsey Coleman and Debresha Barnes today…..Coleman and Barnes were huge on the boards yesterday and Kea carried the team in the first half and then Johnson did the job with her scoring in the second half….Alyssa Munson will be tough for the NWG girls on the inside/interior, she has some very good post moves and Page will need to get a body on her at all times…..Natalie Harper was red-hot outside to begin the game for NWG yesterday and she had three-three’s in the first quarter/first half…..Brandi Burrell is a steady little point guard for NWG….

GDS boys will have to well aware of NEG tonight…..Mohammad Tijani is a lot like Bryson Fonville from Page….Tijani can get to the basket in a hurry…..NEG has multiple sources with Simpson, Williamson, Benjamin, and Hairston out front and the Rams will need a big game from ‘Big Men’ Donavan Gilmore and Cameron Smith….NEG can not stand back and watch and be in awe of GDS…..The Rams have to be ready to play early and you must find some way to keep GDS off the boards with way too many second and third chances on the offensive end last night……I’d love to have a portion of the Bengals missed shots in that game on Tuesday…..Gilmore and Smith will have to get up there and rebound and Page went big with both Summers and Conner last night and it helped and for NEG to have success, Bryce Benjamin will have to drop down and help out on the boards too, because Cam Smith and Gilmore won’t be able to do it all by themselves……

NEG has a tendency to run long offensive possessions and the Rams will have to be real patient to be effective in their offensive sets tonight…..As a coach put it the other night and he said it well, it isn’t always about stopping a certain man, it is about stopping or checking the schemes that teams use………

Looing forward to today’s games….We have the same teams on Court 1 that we had yesterday, just in a different order in today’s finals and third place games…..