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Pikeville Middle School Basketball Team Scrutinized for 100-2 Win

November 28, 2011 By 2 Comments

One middle school basketball team is so good it was scrutinized for a blowout win over an opponent earlier in the season.

Pikeville (Ky.) is 17-1 on the season and beat an opponent 100-2 in a preseason tournament three weeks ago (highlights above). They were facing Kimper, a K-8 school in Kentucky, and ran them out of the gym. According to Scouts Focus, the head coach only left his starters in for 1:48 which was enough to build a 25-0 lead. The coach called off the press and had his backups play a zone, but they still led 70-0 at the half.

Pikeville then re-inserted the starters and tried to get Kimper to score, but the opponents were unable to make open threes and layups. Kimper didn’t score until the last second on a layup. Pikeville won the tournament, beating another middle school team 75-32 in the championship game.

Now here’s where it gets interesting.

[Coach Bryan] Johnson informed Scouts Focus that the superintendent and the school board have been rumored to be on the verge of canceling their season and disqualifying the team from playing in the much anticipated county championships. Pikeville will play Kimper again mid-December, where Johnson says he will not bring his 8th graders along. Johnson informed Scouts Focus that he will just use his 6th and 7th graders in the much anticipated and heavily one-sided rematch.

Jerry Green, the Pikeville Independent Schools Superintendent, says they investigated to see what led to the blowout. Once they realized that Pikeville played with reasonable sportsmanship, they let Pikeville continue playing its season. Green denies that canceling the season was even discussed or considered.

We’re happy to hear of the outcome given that blowouts in youth athletics can sometimes lead to firings. It also sounds like the coach handled the situation well, and that by not playing the eighth graders for their next game, he’s doing the right thing.

via Fark

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1559250904 Pamela Lucas

    I live in the area where the teams are located.  I’ve discouraged my daughter from playing team sports after her first year of t ball – not keeping score and making all players think they are winners are PRECISELY the downfalls of the above comments (aka blowouts in youth athletics sometimes lead to firings.) THAT type of attitude is ridiculous.  Not teaching youth to handle disappointment and losing are contributing factors in failing to succeed and not being able to cope with real life situations later on in life.  I’d rather have my child lose every time and learn to keep trying and persevere while keeping her head held high, rather than stomp and pout because they couldn’t handle not winning.

  • Anonymous

    If the idea is to have all the kids “learn” why have school teams?  why not just put some students from each school in a new team each game.  If, on the other hand, this is a sport, then if the one school is so bad that even given opportunities  –”:unable to make open threes and layups” then why should the winning team be punished?  If it’s a shut out, then stop the game, and do an exchange so the other team might learn how or at least have some fun. All the solution here does is punish Pikeville’s 8th graders, who have to miss a game so they don’t “win too much”.  Maybe Pikeville should be in a higher “league” where they might have more reasonable competition, or the Kimper team should be in a different one where they might play against other opponents who are more equal to their skill level.  You want young kids not to feel totally crushed, but why punish the successful ones?  Couldn’t anyone come up with a better solution than “sometimes firing for winning too much” or playing “one hand tied behind your back”?  If Pikeville hadn’t played “fair” that would be one thing.  But simply because they won?  sheesh.