STAYING WITH #1

 The 13^th Region Tournament opened play with the girls’ Monday night at the Arena in Corbin. It was disappointing to see the Whitley County Lady Colonels go down to defeat to the North Laurel Lady Jaguars.

North Laurel got plenty of boos when they came out with some stall tactics to disrupt the Whitley County offense. It worked as the Lady Colonels never seem to get  on trackdespite making an incredible comeback in the last three minutes. The Lady Colonels had a chance to tie or win the game in the final 4.5 seconds, but unfortunately it didn’t happen and one of the state’s best teams went down to defeat.

Barbourville and Bell County felt that sting in the district tournaments last week and now Whitley County will have to sit back and watch the final six teams battle it out.

I had not made my picks in the regional tournament, but felt Whitley County would reach the finals against Clay County. I expected a tough game out of Harlan County if Whitley County could have beaten North Laurel.

As I see it now, Clay County is my pick to win the region. Corbin is so young and don’t really expect the upset there. The Lady Tigers are much better than Knox Central or Bell County, although the Lady Bobcats have played a tough schedule and is capable of the upset.

Harlan County didn’t get off to a great start against Barbourville and if they play like they did Monday night, North Laurel could very well be in the finals. Harlan County has more weapons, but North Laurel has more speed.

When it is all said and done, Clay County will take home another championship. They will have a great opportunity of going far in the state tournament as well.

With the 13^th region in the same bracket with the 12^th region, 15^th region and 16^th region, the Lady Tigers will be the favorite along with Ashland Blazer.

Boys open tonight 

The boys’ will get underway Wednesday night with Middlesboro taking on North Laurel and Knox Central playing South Laurel. It might be a long night for Laurel County. I am going to go out on the limb and pick Middlesboro and Knox Central.

Middlesboro is coming into the tournament on a couple of high notes after eliminating Bell County and beating Harlan County on its home floor.

In Thursday night’s games, the Corbin Redhounds will play Pineville. Coach Tony Pietrowski’s team cannot afford to over look the Mountain Lions with John Simpson at center and Byron David Asher running the team at guard.

If you are an avid fan of basketball and know the sport, you have to go with the Redhounds in this game. Travis Smith stepped up his game in the district tournament and I expect the same thing for the region. He has plenty of help with the likes of Robbie Igo, Kyle West and Victor Berezutchi inside and guards Zach Farley, Kaleb Maguet and Trevor Hill should provide plenty of fireworks. I have not seen too many teams shut down Farley and Smith on the same night.

The Clay County-Harlan County game should bring in a big crowd. Most of the season the two teams were ranked number one and two. While Clay County and Coach Robert Marcum have won five in a row and seven out of their last eight games, the Black Bears lost in the district final to Middlesboro, 53-48. The have struggled the month of February.

They have won seven of the 10 games, but they had close games with Corbin and Whitley County. Sure they beat Harlan easily twice, Lee (Va), Jackson County and Leslie County, but none of those teams have wining records.

Clay County has played one heck of a schedule this year. Their last losses have come against Lexington Catholic, Perry Central and Bell County. Harlan County did beat the Tigers in the WYMT Classic, 74-72, so you have to expect an exciting game.

When the final horn sounds, I can see Clay County taking a five-point win.

The semifinal round should be Middlesboro and Knox Central with Corbin taking on Clay County. Knox Central may be playing its best basketball of the season and should get past Middlesboro while Corbin will have an uphill battle against Clay County.

Although the Redhounds have eliminated the Tigers the last two years in the semifinal round and played the Tigers back in December. The Tigers have played the more difficult schedule and it may pay off this time around.

Corbin is a 13-point underdog, but this game will be much closer, so I’ll pick the Tigers and say Redhounds prove me wrong.

In the championship game, I have to put the monkey on the back of the Tigers.

 Great District!

Before I close out my column, congratulations to Whitley County for an outstanding job done at the 50^th District Tournament. The hospitality was second to none. The parking for the media was outstanding and the hospitality was good, much better than the Arena and the 13^th Region Tournament.

In my eight years I have found that Corbin, Whitley County and Williamsburg do an outstanding job running their tournament. You can’t say that about North and South Laurel. The three here seem to go out of their way to provide a great tournament. I am already looking forward to next year’s district at Williamsburg.

 Region Picks

I have listed my region picks for the boys’ and girls’ tournaments throughout the state in today’s News Journal. Trevor Sherman and I are going head-to-head for a dinner at one of our favorite spots. We have some different picks including the 13^th region where I chose Clay County and Trevor chose North Laurel. He knows his sports, so this could be a good challenge. He beat me picking soccer and I took him on the football bowl games.

By the way, if you want to challenge us during the NCAA send your brackets to me and I will put you in our annual contest.