Continuing coverage: 2016 Cumberland Falls Invitational

UPDATE (WEDNESDAY): First round play in this year’s Cumberland Falls Invitational Tournament at Corbin High School is complete, and basketball fans can now begin counting down the hours until another evening full of action and excitement!

Wednesday’s first contest saw the Whitley County Colonels bounce back from their loss to Knox Central last night and pick up a 76-49 win over the Barbourville Tigers. Junior Corey Johnson had a game-high 27 points in the victory, which advances the Colonels to the fourth place game, scheduled to take place Friday at 5:45 p.m. The win also improves Whitley to 5-7 on the year.

Whitley County 76, Barbourville 49
Whitley Co – 15  22  16  23  –  76
B’ville – 12  18  8  11  –  49
WC – Johnson 27, Rice 10, Downs 8, Hollingsworth 9, Wilson 14, Powell 3, Thornton 2, Bowling 3
B – Deaton 9, Mills 10, Schall 12, Bain 6, Witt 5, Gray 2, Miller 1, Vaughan 4

In game two Wednesday, the host Corbin Redhounds took the court for the first time in the 2016 CFIT, hosting Franklin County. After a competitive first quarter the Hounds were able to get out to a healthy lead before the whistle blew for halftime. They came out of the locker room and cruised through the third and fourth quarters to an an eventual 106-80 win.

Corbin junior Andrew Taylor and sophomore Chase Sanders combined for 50 of the Redhounds’ 106 points on the night, with Taylor scoring 29 and Sanders scoring 21. The win over Franklin County puts the Hounds at 7-1 overall this season, and advances them to play Estill County Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. in the tournament semifinals.

Corbin 106, Franklin County 80
Corbin – 21  33  24  28  –  106
Franklin Co – 24  15  15  26  –  80
C – Barton 11, Sanders 21, Z Maguet 11, A Taylor 29, Barnes 5, Burns 9, S Taylor 2, M Taylor 4, Hopkins 10, Byrley 4
FC – Stivers 10, Hubbard 4, Staples 15, Boling 15, Courtney 8, Lee 9, Atkins 6, Valentine 12, Roberts 1

Also scheduled for Thursday are the three-point and slam dunk contests, which are to immediately follow the Corbin versus Estill County game. Knox Central will play either Daniel (SC) or Freedom (FL) in the other semifinal matchup Thursday night at approximately 9:30 p.m.

The 2016 Cumberland Falls Invitational will continue through this Friday evening inside Gilliam Gymnasium at Corbin High School. For full tournament coverage, be sure to pick up the January 4 edition of the News Journal!

ORIGINAL (TUESDAY): Day one of the 2016 Cumberland Falls Invitational Tournament is in the books.

The Barbourville Tigers took on Estill County in the early game Tuesday evening, and what a game it was. It took an overtime period to get the job done, but in the end Estill was able to top the Tigers 55-52 to advance to the tournament semifinals Thursday.

In the late game Tuesday, the Knox Central Panthers jumped out to a large lead early in their game against the Whitley County Colonels. They never looked back, cruising to an eventual 72-47 win, also advancing to play in Thursday’s semifinal round.

After losing on opening night, Barbourville and Whitley will return to Corbin High School Wednesday to face each other at 5:00 p.m. That game will be immediately followed be the host Redhounds taking on Franklin County in more first round action. Freedom (FL) and Daniel (SC) will meet up in the late game, tentatively scheduled to get underway at 9:15 p.m.

Check back here Wednesday night for more coverage from this year’s Cumberland Falls Invitational Tournament at Corbin High School.