FIRST STEP

Corbin cashed in its ticket to the next round of postseason play with a 65-47 win over the Williamsburg Yellow Jackets in the first-round of the 50^th District Tournament at Corbin High School.

 The Redhounds (23-3) had a much tougher contest than expected from the Yellow Jackets, who were without the services of leading scorer Steven Taylor. Taylor had been dismissed from the team late last week.

It was the Jackets (10-18) who came out with the first two baskets of the game, including a 3-pointer by senior Derrek Lovett. After missing their first six shots from the floor, senior Luke Stewart connected with 4:45 left in the quarter to get the Redhounds on the scoreboard. Senior Madison Johnson followed with a 3-pointer and the game was tied at 5-5.

There were two more ties in the quarter with the last being at 9-9 when Matthew Taylor stole the ball and went in for a lay-up. Johnson followed with a basket and senior Aaron Manns hit one-of-two from the free throw line for a 12-9 margin at the 1:37 mark of the quarter. Corbin took a 14-11 lead into the second period.

“Corbin is good,” said Williamsburg Coach Patrick Robinson. “They put so much pressure on you and can run so many kids at you.”

“I thought our kids played hard, we had such a hard time scoring with Corbin,” Robinson said. “They are so powerful on the offensive end and can score so many points so easy. It’s hard for us to run-and-gun with them.”

Corbin never gave up the lead, but allowed Williamsburg to hang around in the second quarter. Jared Barton scored the first basket of the second period to pull the Jackets within a point, but a 6-0 run with Johnson scoring back-to-back baskets pushed the host ahead 20-13.

Corbin struggled from the outside, hitting only one-of-seven 3-pointers in the first half. Williamsburg was able to keep the score close with Daniel Pettit going inside and Chad Terry hitting a 3-pointer. A rebound basket by CeJay Jones pulled Williamsburg within 28-25 late in the quarter, but Corbin’s Brody Freeman hit a pair of free throws and Johnson went down the lane for the final basket of the half and the Redhounds went to the dressing room with a 32-25 lead.

“They have improved throughout the year,” said Corbin Coach Tony Pietrowski. “They won the All “A” and you don’t do that if your are not a good basketball team. Their kids bought into what their coaches wanted them to do. I knew we were in for a battle.”

The Redhounds took control of the game in the third quarter, outscoring the Yellow Jackets 21-9.

Pietrowski said the key to the third quarter was better defense and rebounding. “I thought we needed to buy back into defense and rebounding. When we were getting stops it seemed like we were giving up offensive rebounds, we coupled those two things and if you do that you can key your break,” he said.

Johnson, who led all scorers with 30 points, and Travis Smith, ignited a 21-9 run that saw the Redhounds take a 53-34 lead at the end of the third quarter.

“I’m proud of our kids,” said Robinson. “Corbin deserves all the credit in the world. Those kids and coaches do a great job.”

“I thought the big difference in the game, they were getting to the free throw line,” said Robinson. “They were doing that driving since they were having trouble from the outside. They got the foul line a lot more than we did and that’s a credit to their kids and coaches.”

For the game, the Redhounds hit 18-of-24 while the Yellow Jackets were three-of-nine.

“Defensively, we were tougher that in the first two matches with Corbin,” said Robinson. “The game was much closer than the final score. We just wanted to come out here and give our best and that’s what the kids did.”

It wasn’t the best night of shooting for the Redhounds, who connected on 37 percent from the field (22-59). The Redhounds were 1 of 11 from 3-point range.

Williamsburg connected on 19-of-44 for 43.1 percent and was 5-of-10 from long range.

“You’re going to have those games,” said Pietrowski. “You’re going to have games were you don’t shoot the ball as well as you normally do. But, again, we didn’t panic, stayed focused and kept getting the stops we needed to get. In the end, we were able to make enough shots to get a gap and get the tempo where we wanted it.

Pietrowski was happy to see Johnson take control of the game in the first half.

“Madison carried our basketball team in the first quarter-and-a-half plain and simple,” said Pietrowski. “I think he had 19 of our first 28 points. And, he distributed the basketball really well. Hats off to a senior who has been through some battles and saw his team a little bit out of sorts and carried us.”

Corbin will move onto the championship game of the 50^th District where they will defend their title against South Laurel or Whitley County Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

Corbin 65, Williamsburg 47

Williamsburg            11  14    9  13- 47

Corbin                  14  18  21  12- 65

   Williamsburg (47) – Jones 16, Lovett 12, Pettit 8, Barton 8, Terry 3.

   Corbin (65) – Wilson 4, Johnson 30, Smith 12, Taylor 4, Manns 7, Stewart 4, Freeman 4.