Five Takeaways: Loveland vs. Walnut Hills

<p>Walnut Hills came into Friday night’s game with Loveland locked in a second place tie with Turpin in the ECC, one game out of first place. And with the Tigers tied for 1^st place in the conference, the stakes were extremely high in the Nut House. Luckily for Coach Ricardo Hill, the Eagles gave played like it was an important game in the 2^nd half and pulled out an important 60-45 home victory.</p> <p>The contest got off to a very sloppy start, with both teams missing easy opportunities at the rim and making careless passes. But when Loveland was able to run their offense, which was predicated on ball movement and leaving the lane open for cuts at the rim, they were able to get some easy buckets that helped them grab the lead 18-15 at halftime. But the 2^nd half was a different story as Walnut Hills used their size advantage to own the paint, particularly the offensive and defensive backboards, along with more ball-pressure defensively to turn the tables. And behind the duo of <strong>F Nic Smith and G Greg Phelia III</strong>, who combined for 37 points on 13-26 shooting, Walnut run away with a 15-point victory.</p> <p>The before mentioned <strong>Nic Smith (2020 PHO #165) </strong>led all players with 20 points (7-13 fg) and 16 rebounds on the evening while teammate <strong>Greg Phelia III (Class of 2019)</strong> finished with 17 points (6-13 fg), 2 assist and 3 steals for Walnut. The Tigers were led by junior <strong>G Collin Hedgepeth </strong>who finished with 13 points on 6-8 shooting.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Five Takeaways</strong></p> <ul> <li>Loveland was without senior stud <strong>Jalen Greiser, </strong>and his absence was very noticeable. Particularly in the 2^nd half when the Eagles tightened the ball pressure on the Tigers, Coach Rob Reis team needed someone that could create offense off-script for themselves and others and Jalen is that guy. A three-year varsity starter, the combo guard is averaging 15.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.8 assist per game on the season.</li> <li><strong>Nic Smith</strong> performance was as good as I have seen from a post player all season. He absolutely owned the backboard on both ends finishing with 16 overall rebounds (7 offensive) while showing good footwork and finishing skills around the rim. And it all started with posting up strong on the block and refusing to be moved out of position. Nic also showed some quickness on the block using a quick spin move baseline on a few occasions to beat double teams coming from the middle. And just as impressive was the fact that he was 6-7 from the free throw line.</li> <li>I am confident that there is a D-II/D-III, JUCO or NAIA program out there that could use a talent like <strong>Greg Phelia III. </strong>The senior was in attack mode all evening, using crafty ball handling and his strong upper-body to get in the paint and either finish at the rim or draw contact to go to the line. Phelia also does a good job of using his upper body strength to knock defenders off balance on dribble drives as well. He is in the top 10 in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference in points (15.5, 4^th) and steals (2.4, 1^st).</li> <li>Junior guard<strong> Collin Hedgepeth</strong> took advantage of the minute’s boost he received with Jalen Greiser out with injury. As mentioned earlier Hedgepeth scored 13 points in the ball game and looked to be the most athletic guard on the floor. He showed good ball-handling abilities along with speed in the open court and the ability to finish with both hands at the rim. I expect this young man to be a major factor off the bench for Loveland come tourney time.</li> <li>With only three weeks left in the regular season, it’s like the ECC will come down to the wire. West Clermont is the current conference leader with an 8-2 record then you have a 3-way tie for 2^nd with Loveland, Turpin and Walnut Hills all tied at 7-3. The loser of Friday’s Turpin at Loveland game could effectively knock themselves out of conference title contention.    </li> </ul> <p><strong> </strong></p>