Previous Story
CFIT Opens Monday
Posted On 23 Dec 2010
Comment: 1
The 24th Cumberland Falls Invitational will kick off Monday at Corbin High School. Tournament Director Randy Worley is excited about this year’s field, which includes 11th Region power Scott County, 13th Region front-runner, Clay County as well as local teams such as Corbin, Whitley County and North Laurel.
“There are a lot of unknowns about this tournament,” said Worley. “We know we have Whitley County and North Laurel opening up. We are hoping Whitley County will come in here with a very aggressive style of basketball that is really up and down the floor.
I think they will have a lot of fan support and they are going to come here expecting to get to the finals.”
“That’s a great thing about having them come in this year,” said Worley. “They have really been building this team to get to this point. They are senior-laden, so that’s a great thing.
North Laurel comes back as the 13th region runner-up. They have had a decent start to the season so that’s going to be a great opening game.”
Whitley County and North Laurel kick off the tournament at 6:30 p.m. Monday followed by the Corbin Redhounds and the Tigers of Pigeon Forge (Tn).
“Pigeon Forge is an unknown,” said Worley. “I am sure Coach Pietrowski has done some scouting, but they are an unknown to us.”
The second day of the tournament begins with a consolation bracket game at 5:30 p.m., followed by Clay County against Laurens, SC. Scott County will play Sevier County (Tn) at 9:15 p.m.
“Clay County is strong, we know that. They are good every year,” said Worley. “Laurens, South Carolina, you can always expect those teams to be extremely athletic. A lot of the time they like to get up and down the floor. It will be an exciting game.
Sevier County is a decent size team, a good size school playing Scott County.”
“To be honest, we are looking for some good match-ups going into the semifinal. You might have a Corbin-North Laurel rematch of the region final or a Corbin-Whitley County semifinal. That would be awesome for the fans and awesome for the Redhound Varsity Club,” said Worley.
Worley mentioned a dream match-up with Clay County and Scott County. “I don’t want to slight anyone, but when you look at the tournament brackets you get excited.”
“The tournament sets up with some unknowns, which is a great thing. The fans will come in here not knowing what they are going to get, but they see some traditional powers that they know against some unknown teams,” he added.
“I think you will see some really good basketball and maybe we will end up with some of these matches that we’d like to see,” said Worley. “I expect this to be one of our better tournaments.”
“We keep on trying to grow with one of the oldest tournaments in the state. We feel like we are going to have one of our largest crowds in a long time wanting to see these teams,” said Worley.
At press time, the Clay County Tigers were 7-0 and playing in the semifinals of the Fayette County Invitational against Lexington Henry Clay. The Tigers will be led by seniors John Hooker, Matthew Mitchell, Codi Roberts, Josh England and Adam Gay.
Scott County is 7-1 after a four-point loss to Louisville Ballard to open the season. They have rebounded to beat Louisville Trinity, Lew Wallace (In), Lawrence North (In), Lafayette, the Australian Travel Team along with 13th region foes, Bell County and Harlan.
North Laurel was playing in the consolation game of the Hoopin It Up Holiday Classic Tuesday against archrival South Laurel. The Jaguars were 4-5 going into that game led by senior Cody Likins. Juniors Ryan Shears and Ethan Eversole are impact players for North Laurel.
Whitley County is 6-1 after beating Deming in the Fort Harrod Classic Tuesday. Look for Jordan Akins, Shawn Harris, Aaron Petrey and Justin Goins to make a big impact for the Colonels. Whitley County and North Laurel met Dec. 11 at Lawson Gym with the Colonels taking a 62-51 win.
The Redhounds of course have been led by senior Matthew Taylor and junior Travis Smith early in the season.
The tournament semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 29 at 7:15 and 9:45 with the finals to be played Thursday, Dec. 30 at 9:15 p.m.
