Williamsburg advances in 13th Region Tournament

Wednesday’s Player of the Game – Andrew Griffith

 The Williamsburg Yellow Jackets moved to 23-4 on the season Wednesday night when they defeated the Jackson County Generals 60-45 in the first round of the boys’ 13^th Region tournament at The Arena in Corbin.

Jackson took a more methodical approach in the opening minutes in hopes of throwing the Jackets off their game, but their plan did not work. Williamsburg was able to jump out to an 8-0 lead before the Generals would begin to fight back, and at the end of one quarter they led 12-6.

With 2:16 left before the half things became a little more interesting when a Zach Lawson three-pointer brought Jackson County to within three points, 23-20. The Jackets would hold on to a 27-22 lead heading into the locker room, however.

Things got even more exciting in the third quarter of play when the Generals finally took their first lead of the evening after another Lawson three-pointer with four minutes and change on the clock. At the 2:17 mark, player of the game Andrew Griffith tied things up at 36-36 with a three-point play for Williamsburg. Heading into the fourth quarter the Jackets were back on top, 40-38.

Another three-point play from Griffith with 4:35 remaining in regulation put Williamsburg up 52-41, and they went on from there to grab the 15-point victory and advance to the regional semifinals on Saturday.

“I was surprised that Jackson came out and played the way they did,” said Yellow Jackets Head Coach Patrick Robinson after the game. “I thought they would want to go a little faster, but the good thing about our kids is they’ve shown that they can win both ways. They can win playing fast, and they can win playing slow. You have to give a lot of credit to Jackson County, though. Coach (Greg) Parrett does a great job with his kids. We’re just glad to be moving on from here.”

Next for Williamsburg will be a rematch with the Barbourville Tigers (21-8), who defeated Bell County 52-43 Wednesday night to advance to the region semis. The Jackets narrowly defeated the Tigers 56-54 at Harlan Independent High School back on January 23 to win this year’s 13^th Region All “A” Tournament championship. Coach Robinson said that he is expecting the region semifinal meeting between these two teams to be a “war.”

Williamsburg versus Barbourville is currently scheduled to tip off Saturday afternoon at 1:00 PM, but that start time could be pushed back if inclement weather causes cancellations of Thursday’s and/or Friday’s games. If that were to be the case, this story will be updated with the new start time. That information will also be posted to social media.

UPDATE: Due to hazardous weather conditions, the 13th Region basketball tournament brackets have been revised. Saturday’s game between Williamsburg and Barbourville will now be played at 6:30 PM instead of the originally scheduled time of 1:00 PM.

Williamsburg senior Fred Massey

Williamsburg 60, Jackson Co 45

W’burg –  12  15  13  20  –  60

Jackson –  6   16  16   7   –  45

W’burg – Andrew Griffith 24, Fred Massey 14, Chase Lowrie 11, Skyler Griffith 8, Corey Shelton 3

Jackson Co – Zach Lawson 17, Jacob Hammonds 13, James Bundy 5, Tanner Harris 4, Jackson King 4, Lucas Moore 2