Here are the results from yesterday's games:
Lou. Doss 66, Lawrence Co. 57
Taylor Co. 94, Mason Co. 65
S. Laurel 53, (1) Christian Co. 50
S. Oldham 58, Owensboro Catholic 34
By the way, Taylor County took 80 shots, and had 51 rebounds, in 32 minutes. That is amazing. If Taylor County and Mason County had continued at the same pace for eight more minutes, Taylor County would have won 118-81. How often do you see scores like that in college basketball?
We have reached the quarter-finals, and only two of the teams that were ranked in the AP's top 10 at the end of the season are still playing. Remarkably, they will face each other. But the other teams all looked pretty good in the first round. It should be a huge day at Rupp, especially since the fans don't have to worry about keeping track of UK. Also, we have a good mix of teams from all over the Commonwealth. There is still one team each from Louisville, Lexington, and Northern Kentucky. We have a team from the Jackson Purchase and a team from the mountains. And we have a mix of small-town teams, suburban teams, and city teams. We also have some small schools, some really big schools, and one private school. It's all very Kentucky.
Here are your quarter-finals (all times Central):
11 A.M.:
Murray (30-5) v. Newport Cent. Catholic (29-4)
Given that NCC's last two wins were over (4) Cov. Catholic and (9) Lou. Trinity, they will really like their chances against Murray. But what a year for the Tigers -- teams from the First Region don't often win 30 games.
12:30 P.M.:
(7) Lex. Dunbar (30-6) v. (5) Bowling Green (31-2)
No one has had a tougher draw than Dunbar. This will be their fourth game in a row against a top-10 team, after wins over (8) Lex. Henry Clay, (3) Scott Co., and (2) Mercer Co. But this may be the toughest test yet, as BGHS went all the way to the State Finals last year, and will not be intimidated on the Big Stage.
5:30 P.M.
Lou. Doss (28-5) v. Taylor Co. (25-8)
Doss has played very well, and should win this game. But I don't know what to expect from a team that just scored 94 points in a high school tournament where most teams are struggling to break 60.
7 P.M.:
S. Laurel (28-6) v. S. Oldham (29-5)
South Laurel has already knocked off the number-one team in the Commonwealth, and South Oldham was dominant last night. So both of these teams will like their chances.
The WNBS guy just said that NCC has hit better than 40 percent of its three-pointers on the season and that none of the NCC starters shoots worse than 40 percent on threes.
ReplyDeleteOne of the WNBS broadcast sponsors is "Bad Bob's Barbecue," with locations in Calloway County and Benton.
ReplyDeleteWell, this has been a sad day for the First Region. NCC led Murray 17-8 after one quarter, led 38-17, and have pretty much had things their own way. In this game, NCC has made 9-14 three-point shots, and they lead 61-40 with 5:36 left in the game.
ReplyDeleteNCC goes 10-17 from three-point range, rolls past Murray 73 to 54. Great year for the Tigers, but NCC is a really good team. Just ask Trinity.
ReplyDeleteHeck.
DeleteNext up is Bowling Green and Dunbar.
ReplyDeleteOn paper, the winner of this game should be favored to take the title, but I'm starting to think NCC may be the best team of all.
ReplyDeleteNot so much because of what they did to Murray, but because of their victories over Trinity (the 2012 champ) and CovCath (the 2014 champ). Those two teams are well-coached, they have won big games, but they couldn't stop NCC.
ReplyDeleteAlso, they're your Golden State shooters that you were hoping to see.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I think South Laurel is the only team left in the Tournament that has won the State Championship before. SLHS went all the way in 2005, and of course Laurel County won the title in 1982. (If anyone can tell us whether that State Title Trophy is with North Laurel or South Laurel, I would really appreciate it.)
ReplyDeleteBGHS has jumped out to an early 13-4 lead with 5:04 left in the first quarter.
ReplyDeleteBGHS 15, Dunbar 6 with 3:10 to go in the 1st
ReplyDeleteFor Dunbar, Taveion Hollingsworth is 2-4 from the field. The rest of the team is 0-7.
Well, this turned out to be quite a game.
ReplyDeleteBGHS led 23-9 at the end of the first quarter, and led 36-26 at the half.
But in the third quarter, Dunbar stormed back. The Bulldogs led Bowling Green 44-41 after three quarters.
The fourth quarter was back and forth. BGHS led 47-46 with 5:15 to go. But then Dunbar took the lead for good, and hung on for a 57-51 victory. BGHS went cold, making only 2 of its last 8 shots.
Hollingsworth wasn't as dominant here as he was against Mercer County, but he still finished with 16 points on 7-16 shooting.
Dunbar has now beaten four top-10 teams in a row:
ReplyDelete(8) Lex. Henry Clay (70-62)
(3) Scott Co. (51-39)
(2) Mercer Co. (58-55)
(5) Bowling Green (57-51)
That is high-quality basketball. There are no more top-10 teams in the field. But Dunbar still needs two more wins for the title. Tomorrow, they will take on Newport Central Catholic.