Recap: Pendleton County (73) @ Scott (83)
One of the most anticipated matchups of the 10th Region went down tonight in Taylor Mill. Scott hosted Pendleton County with a packed house in anticipation of seeing Kentucky Basketball signee Dontaie Allen. These two teams both fell in the top 5 of their region last year, Scott with a record of 23-10 and Pendleton with a record of 24-8. Scott has won the previous 7 meetings (2012-2018) and are looking to keep their hot streak alive. Here is a recap on how the night went…
Scott got off to a hot start controlling the tempo of the game. It will be very hard for teams to keep up with Scott’s transition offense in the coming weeks. It seemed like Pendleton wasn’t as prepared for this matchup as they should have been. Scott was on fire from the floor tonight, moving the ball around and looking for the extra man. Senior guard Chad Ohmer had one of the most memorable games of his career, surpassing 1000 career points to join his brother Jake on the leaderboard. Chad wasn’t that involved in the offense in the first half, but lit it up in the second half scoring 11 points in 16 minutes. Ohmer also contributed with 4 rebounds and 7 assists. Also, one of the top unsigned guards in the state 2019 G Trey Meister had a great performance lighting it up from beyond the arch. He finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists even after going down early in the 4Q to cramps. Scott also had big time contributions from three other senior players. Guards David Hunter (14 points 6 rebounds)and Kyren Simpson (11 points) were huge for the Eagles success tonight. Forward Nathan Joyce finished with 11 points and really pushed Scott late in the 4th to a victory. Coach Fromeyer told me after the game that he contributes their success tonight to his teams preparation, having a week to prepare for Pendleton and to devise a game plan against a well coached team. He also added they really emphasized shooting the ball and working on their offense this week at practice.
Pendleton County trailed the whole game after about 3-4 minutes into the 1Q. Although they were slow to start the game, Coach Belcher’s squad picked it up after halftime to make an interesting game in the second half. Senior F/Wing Dontaie Allen stole the show tonight putting up a career high 53 points. This just coming off a 52 point performance against small school Williamstown on the 26th. Scoring 105 points in two games is something special and if you have the opportunity to go out and watch him play……. DO IT. Not only scoring a career high in points, he also added 12 rebounds and 2 assists as well. He also hit a controversial half court buzzer beater to send his team to the locker room at half time. At the beginning of the game, junior F Brett Booth scored 7 points unanswered to start the game, absolute beast in the paint. Unfortunately, when you have a teammate who puts up 50+ points, most players aren’t going to get a lot of touches/looks. Senior guard Cody Sullivan who is one of the best shooters in the 10th Region, only scored 6 points the whole game. Also, sophomore guard Tredyn Thomas added 5 points to help his team in the 3Q. Pendleton County only has two seniors on their squad, Coach Belcher and the Wildcats have a lot of room to grow from this early season loss.
Takeaways
Scott was in control most of this game and only let Pendleton come back in the middle of the 4th quarter. Coach Fromeyer and company have a very special team and when they are able to shoot the ball this team is dangerous. Scott is down for their fast tempo offense and transition play, most teams they play this year will have trouble playing at that speed and Scott will use that to their advantage. If the Eagles can limit their turnovers, due to their style of play, this team has a solid chance to get back to Rupp Arena in March. Scott returns to action tomorrow night against a very good Montgomery County team.
Pendleton County was scheduled to play 3 games in 4 days and I believe it led to them not being able to prepare for Scott enough. Coach Belcher’s team has a lot of room to grow and figure out their plan going forward. But they can rest easy knowing they have a player who can put up 40-50 points on any given night. Dontaie currently is the front runner to win Mr. Basketball and his stellar play should have fans all across the state excited to see how this season plays out for him. Allen will have to figure out how to get his teammates a little more involved in order to truly have a chance at winning the 10th Region. Pendleton returns to action December 1st in the highly touted Marshall County Hoopfest against the host team.
Final Stat-Line
Scott (83): Meister 26, Ohmer 16, Simpson 16, Hunter 14, Joyce 11.
Pendleton (73): Allen 53, Booth 9, Sullivan 6, Thomas 5.