Calling the Shots

It’s time to sit back and enjoy basketball at its finest…the 19th Annual Cumberland Falls Invitational Basketball Tournament.
This year’s tournament promises to be one of the best ever. After digging up information about the teams, it was really hard to pick a favorite for this year’s tournament. But, when it was all said and done Carolina Forest impressed me the most. They are big and athletic, a great combination for winning a tournament of this caliber.
Terry Joe Martin, the tournament director, did an outstanding job selecting teams this year.
Not only will Carolina Forest be a fun team to watch but so will Poinciana High School of Kissimmee, Florida.
They have a player named Dante Curry that has signed with South Florida of the Big East.
To play in the Big East, teams have to recruit top-notched players, so you know Curry must be an outstanding player.
Martin and I are a little puzzled about St. James High School of Myrtle Beach. They are one of the new kids on the block in South Carolina, so they come in the CFIT as the mystery team.
Of the Kentucky teams, Perry Central always has a good team. Al Holland is no doubt one of the best coaches in the Commonwealth and gets the most from his teams. I have never known of a bad Holland team.
Greenup County returns to the field. I remember Greenup from my days at the News-Express in Pikeville. The Musketeers always had an outstanding team.
Greenup County has been down the last several years but it looks like the Musketeers are on the way back to the top.
Bell County and Barbourville are back in the tournament as well. Coaches Ed Whitaker and Dinky Phipps do an outstanding job, so count on their teams being in the hunt.
And of course there is no way you can count out the Corbin Redhounds. Only Dixie Heights has more titles than Corbin, thank goodness Martin get get the Colonels back…give someone else a chance to win this thing.
Look for the Redhounds to use these next two weeks to grow up on the court. These invitationals really help when it comes to team play and getting to know on another.
Look for Josh Crawford to take a lot of leadership on his shoulders. He is a very mature freshman and is capable of taking charge.

Attitude goes South
The big game last week turned out to be a bust for Corbin when the Redhounds took on the defending state champion, South Laurel Cardinals.
It was a district game and the Cardinals now have a 2-0 lead in the race.
It will be extremely tough for anyone in the 13th region to beat the Cardinals this year.
I just wish some of the good attitude that Walt Allen and Jordan Hammonds has would rub off on their fans.
While I was taking my game notes some guy in a blue cap kept walking past the Corbin bench and yelling out stupid stuff like, “You all are trouble, you’re pitiful.”
I don’t know if the Redhounds heard it, hopefully not, but let the kids be kids. Everyone can’t be No. 1 in Kentucky but everyone can have a good attitude.

Bowman Tourney
I watched several games in the Bowman Memorial Classic last week and watched some outstanding play by the smaller schools in the area.
Eric Hibbard of Lynn Camp really impressed me with his ability to score from the inside as well as outside.
Hibbard made some big plays down the lane against Jackson County then hit back to back three pointers that sparked the Wildcats to the win over the Generals.
Chris Eggen had a big tournament and was named MVP. He has a nice outside shot and probably needs to give lessons on throw shooting. I can’t remember if he missed any during the tournament.
He hit six in a row to beat Cumberland in the first-round of the tournament then hit some more big free throws against Jackson County.
There’s really no reason why the Wildcats can not win the 51st district this year.
However, they have to continue to play as a team and not as individuals.
There top six players could play for anyone in the area. That includes Adam Bray, Joe Siler, Nathan Tanner and the other three I mentioned.
Work in Progress
The Whitley County Colonels are working hard to become a better team than that took the floor in November.
I see improvement everytime I watch the Colonels play.
First it was eighth grader Jamie Lebanion, who showed he was ready to be in a varsity uniform.
Now, its Cody Jones. He made the all-tournament team in the Bowman Memorial and if he hadn’t it would have been an injustice to the young man.
He played with a lot of fire and took the ball to the hole in leading the Colonels in two of the three games.

The girls can do it
Corbin and Whitley County have come out of the gate quickly.
The Lady Redhounds are still undefeated after Monday’s win over Lexington Bryan Station.
Bryan Station had the Lady Rehounds beaten until the fourth quarter but that’s when Corbin caught fire.
Katie Akins had 27 points as Corbin outscored Station 24-11 in the final eight minutes.
Whitley County played in the Berea Invitational last week and had won two of three games. They slipped past Somerset and lost to Dunbar before beating Boyle County.
According to coach Larry Anderson the ladies didn’t play well against Berea. And they didn’t play their best against Dunbar.
But they finally came to play against Boyle County and got an impressive win.
Senior Kayla Haynes has had a nice tournament. Thomas More was there to watch Haynes against Dunbar and she more than held her own against the Lady Bulldogs.
It seems our teams can’t get a break in that tournament. After closing to within one in the fourth quarter Dunbar scored back to back baskets. Both of the baskets came on walks. They weren’t unnoticed by the naked eye. Any rookie official should have been able to make the calls.
While standing under the goal I saw numerous calls that should have gone the other way.
They have never had good officials for this tournament. I can’t figure where they are getting all these rookies to call some big games.
Oh well, that’s part of basketball. Should have hit some of those free throws!