Corbin Redhounds defeat South Laurel for 2017 50th District championship

With a 72-66 win over the South Laurel Cardinals Friday night, the Corbin Redhounds (25-5) became champions of the 50th District in 2017. 

“This is great,” said Head Coach Tony Pietrowski of his team’s championship victory. “I’ve been in this business a long time, and I still don’t take these things for granted. I’m just proud of my kids. I thought we played really well. South Laurel did a lot of really good things, but we just kept grinding. This is a big win for our program, and I’m happy that Corbin is going to be represented by 50th District champions again.”

Junior Andrew Taylor led all scoring on the night with 40 points. This following a semifinal round performance against Whitley County where he scored 43. Pietrowski said of his star athlete, “He is phenomenal, and he does so many things other than score. He’s just a great player. Teams continue to key in on him, but he still continues to make plays for us. I’ve said it before… I think he’s the best player in the state of Kentucky. He continues to prove that under the brightest spotlights. My hat’s off to him.”

On the upcoming 13th Region tournament, Pietrowski said, “We’re going to enjoy the heck out of this win tonight. We’ll come in at noon tomorrow and see who we draw in the region, but right now we’re just going to enjoy this one. We’ve put a lot of work into this, so we’re going to just relax for a day or two and kind of reap the rewards.”

After helping to cut down the nets inside the gymnasium at Williamsburg High School, and in between having to pose for photos, Andrew Taylor said, “Everybody knows how they [South Laurel] came onto our court and embarrassed us, so it feels good to be able to beat them when it really matters.”

Taylor and the Redhounds will now shift their focus to the 2017 13th Region tournament, which is set to kick off Monday evening at the Arena in Corbin. Bracket draws for both the boys’ and girls’ tournaments will take place tomorrow (Saturday), so keep an eye on the News Journal Facebook and Twitter pages for information on those developments as soon as they become available.

Also, be sure to look in the March 1 edition of the News Journal for more from the 50th District tournament, as well as early round coverage from the region tournament.

Corbin 72, South Laurel 66
Corbin – 20  16  15  21  –  72
S Laurel – 17  9  20  20  –  66
C – Barton 2, C Maguet 1, Sanders 10, Z Maguet 6, A Taylor 40, Barnes 3, S Taylor 4, M Taylor 2, Hopkins 4
SL – Phelps 2, Anders 12, Dalton 1, Grubb 34, Ramey 9, Madden 6, Lovins 2