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REGION PREVIEW
Posted On 03 Mar 2010
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If fans attending the 13th Region Basketball Tournament this week expected their respective team to get an easy draw in Sunday’s regional meeting at THE ARENA, they were surely disappointed.
“Anybody in the region you draw is going to be tough to play,” said Corbin Coach Tony Pietrowski. “You don’t come in here really thinking you are going to get anybody that a pushover.”
With that said the pairings were set. Clay County drew first and drew the number three slot. Pietrowski drew next, but the odds of drawing in the bottom bracket were not with the Corbin coach, who drew the number one slot. That meant a possible match-up in the semifinals for the Redhounds and Tigers.
At the end of the draw, the pairings looked like this. Bell County (15-13) will be Corbin’s first step to repeating as 13th Region champions. They will tip-off the tournament Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., followed by those Clay County Tigers (20-9) taking on the Barbourville Tigers (13-16).
In the bottom bracket, which will play Thursday, Knox Central (14-12) will take on the South Laurel Cardinals (17-12) at 6:30 p.m. while the Black Bears of Harlan County (19-9) will meet North Laurel (14-17) at 8 p.m.
“We will prepare hard for Bell County and will not look any further than them,” said Pietrowski. “We understand they are a quality team, much different than the one we played earlier in the year. We have to be prepared for them, it will be a tough game for us.”
The teams met in the first game of the season (Dec. 4) with the Redhounds taking a 65-46 win. The Bobcats got off to a slow start, losing six of their first eight games. Bell County, led by senior Brian Robbins, junior Ben Madon, sophomore Tanner Lefevers and junior John Dudley Hilton are 11-7 since January. In the month of February the Bobcats have even a better record, 7-2 with losses to Knott County Central, 67-52 and the district finals to Harlan County, 78-73. They had beaten the Black Bears twice prior to the championship loss at Middlesboro.
Bell County, who is 3-6 when playing on a neutral court, is averaging 58.2 ppg while giving up 56.1. The Redhounds, 2-2, on a neutral site, leads the region, scoring 73.0 ppg while allowing 55.0 ppg.
The second game Wednesday night will feature the Clay County Tigers, winners of the 49th District against the Barbourville Tigers, runners-up to Knox Central in the 51st. Clay County, the top defensive team in the region, will be led by senior Kendale Reed, senior DJ Wilson and junior Adam Gay.
The Tigers have won eight of their last 10 games including their last four to end the season. The losses during that stretch came against the Louisville DeSales Colts, 60-59 and to Louisville Trinity, 66-56. Both were played in Manchester.
Barbourville enters the tournament with a 13-16 slate after beating Pineville in the first-round of the 51st District, 55-46. The Tigers lost to Knox Central in the finals 77-63.
Coach Dinky Phipps’ team has been up and down this season. After starting the season 2-5, they won one of four games in the Hoopin’ It Up Holiday Classic. They closed out the December portion of the season with a 3-8 record.
January was kind to the Tigers as Brad Marsee, Josh Hildebrand, Garrett Vaughn, Darrin Mills and Kyle Engle led Barbourville to a 5-2 mark and runner-up finish in the All “A” region to Williamsburg.
Thursday night’s doubleheader matches Knox Central against South Laurel in the opening game at 6:30. The Panthers have been on somewhat of a streak, winning six of their last nine games. Knox Central, led by Cody Miller, ended the season with wins over Middlesboro (97-70), Lynn Camp (75-70) and Barbourville (77-63). They also defeated Pineville, Whitley County and Frankfort before losing to Wayne County (66-61), Bell County (65-58) and North Laurel (67-56).
Two players averaged in double figures for the Panthers. Miller averages 21.1 while Travis Canady is scoring at a 12.2 clip. Sophomore Tanner Broughton, sophomore Kyle Combs and freshman Tobie Merida are key players in the Panthers’ offense.
A trio of seniors, including Matt St. John, Matt Watkins and Matthew Gilbert, of course, leads South Laurel.
The final first-round game will see runner-up North Laurel take on the Black Bears of Harlan County. North Laurel (14-17) started the season with six straight losses, but has played one of the toughest schedules in the 13th region. The Jaguars, led by seniors Adrian Wardrup, Raymond Shears, Dustin Baker and Chris Cheek, had won four games in a row before falling to Clay County in the 49th District finals, 71-58.
The Jaguars have defeated three teams in the tournament field, Knox Central (67-56), Bell County (59-42) and Harlan County (62-52). They defeated the Black Bears in London.
Harlan County finished the season 19-9, but have a 3-5 record against the teams in the tournament. Two of those three wins came over Barbourville and the third, an upset over Bell County in the finals, 78-73.
Tyrek Simmons, Kyle Hogue, T.J. Green, Bryan Robbins and Tanner Lefevers lead the Black Bears. Simmons turned in a 29-point performance in the district final.
