Colonels roll

Coach Darrell Guffey opened the 2005-’06 basketball season with a new look, a mixture of old and new. The old was senior Travis Roaden and Jordan McCumbers, the new 8th grader Jamie Lebanion, Jacob Lowrie, Ed Lawson and a host of other freshmen.
The result was a 73-50 victory over the Jellico Blue Devils in Jellico. “I was pleased with the way we came out tonight,” said Guffey. “It was their third or fourth game.”
“Travis Roaden jumped right in and had our first five and played real well,” said Guffey. “He was real active, our seniors led us and I knew that is going to be huge for us this year. “We only have two seniors that have played much, Travis Roaden and Dustin Reynolds. Brandon Pratt and Ladale Rider have never played varsity basketball and didn’t play any JV.”
“We are very young, very inexperienced and have a lot of growing up to do but tonight our seniors really stepped up,” Guffey said. “They played hard and they played well. They led us tonight and that’s the way it should be.”
Roaden, who had a game-high 19 points, did take it to the Devils from the start. The 6-0 senior went inside for the first two baskets of the game. He converted a three-point play to put the Colonels ahead at the 6:42 mark.
The Colonels added two more baskets, one by Dustin Reynolds and one by eighth grader, Jamie Lebanion for a 9-0 lead. The Colonels never looked back.
Donnie Lay got the Devils on the scoreboard with 5:30 in the opening quarter but two free throws by Jacob Lowrie and a basket by Ed Lawson, both freshmen, pushed the Colonels lead to 13-2.
Leading 17-7, Whitley County closed out the period with a 5-0 run that saw sophomore Jordan McCumbers nail the first of nine Whitley County three pointers followed by a Roaden basket in the paint for a 22-7 lead.
Whitley County outscored the Devils, 7-2 in the first two minutes of the second period and quickly owned a 20-point lead. Roaden had a three pointer and freshman Cody Jones had two free throws and a basket for a 29-9 lead.
Early in the third period the Colonels pushed the lead out to 25 points when Roaden hit a three pointer that gave Whitley County a 49-24 lead in the game. However, Jellico charged back as Dexter Fitzpatrick, Nick Hopson and Shane Osborn all scored, cutting the lead to 49-30 before Guffey called a time-out to settle down his team.
Whitley County then delivered the knockout punch when they finished the quarter with a 16-2 run. The Colonels had four three point goals during the stretch as McCumbers had two and freshman Michael Storms hit two. The Colonels had a 33 point lead at the end of three quarters, 65-32.
“Jordan had a very good week of practice,” said Guffey. “He’s an athlete who can do a lot of things. He was one of our better players toward the end of the season last year. It took the whole season to get his legs underneath him, out of football.”
“He’s grown, he’s matured and has gotten stronger and that’s enabled him to catch-up on the basketball floor a lot quicker. I think he was four of five from three point range, I knew he was going to have a big night against that zone.”
The lead would grow to 37 when Lowrie hit one of two from the line and Lawson delivered a three point play with 6:43 left in the game for a 69-32 lead.
Jellico made its final run and outscored the Colonels 18-4 to pull within the final margin of 23 points.
Guffey got 31 points from his freshmen class and was pleased with their play. “We’ve got a good group of young kids,” said the second-year coach. “Jamie Lebanion has a chance to be a very special player at Whitley County High School. He can do some things that not many eighth graders can do. As matter of fact, you look out on the floor and he would be one of the last guys you would pick to be an eighth grader.”
“He’s very big and he’s very strong,” said Guffey. “He is very athletic and has a knack to get to the goal, he made shots tonight, when his shot is going in he is a treat to watch.”
“And, not only him, all of our young players,” Guffey said. “At one time, we had four freshman and a eighth grader out on the floor. They are going to be a very big part of our basketball program this year.”
The Colonels will head over to Corbin Friday night for the a big district showdown against the Redhounds.
“We have three days to prepare for Corbin,” said Guffey. “They are big and strong, they play hard and guard very hard. We are going to have to sharpen up our offensive side and toughen up a little bit on our defensive side.”
“They play tough hard-nosed man to man defense, something that we didn’t see any of tonight,” added Guffey. “We’ve got to prepare and get our kids ready to meet that intensity. It’s their first game and it will be a big house, big crowd and our kids have got to find a way to match their intensity, especially early in the first quarter.”

Whitley County 22 20 23 8- 73
Jellico 7 17 8 18- 50
Whitley County (73) – Roaden 19, McCumbers 16, Jones 6, Reynolds 5, Lebanion 5, Lowrie 7, Lawson 5, Pratt 2, Prewitt 2, Storms 6.
Jellico (50) – Webb 6, Fitzpatrick 2, Hopson 7, Buckner 9, Lamb 2, Sharp 4, Osborn 4, Johnson 6, Lay 2, Morgan 3, King 3, Murray 2.