article KHSAA Sweet 16 Tournament Preview - Elliott County

Name: Elliott County

Mascot: Lions

Head Coach: Greg Adkins

District: 62^nd

Region: 16^th

​State Tournament Appearances:

The Lions will be making their 6^th Sweet 16 tournament appearance. The Lions have made it to the semi-finals once, losing to Covington Holmes 67-57 in the 08/09 season, Covington Holmes would go on and win the Sweet 16 State tournament. The Lions would play Warren Central in the elite 8 in the 06/07 season and Warren Central would come out with the win 92-76. In 07/08 the Lions got bounced in the opening round game by Mason County 66-62, Mason County, of course, would go on and win the Sweet 16 state tournament. In back to back seasons 14/15,15/16 the Lions would make the Sweet 16 and would play Bowling Green in the opening round game in both seasons. Bowling Green, of course,would win both games, 86-44 (14/15) and 75-59 (15/16). So can the Lions win the Sweet 16 or will the team that defeats them, go on and win the sweet 16? Seems like that's the trend when the Lions play in the sweet 16.

Coach Info:

The Lions are coached by Greg Adkins. Coach Adkins took before the 09/10 season began and he hasn't been nothing short of impressive. His teams have won 20+ games in 4 of his 8 seasons as head coach. He brings in a record of 147-81 (overall)….111 of those 147 wins have came against region opponents (111-56) and 46-26 (district). Coach Adkins has won 3 district and 3 region titles in his tenure as Elliott County head coach.

District Tournament Re-Cap:

The Lions wouldn't have an easy way in the district tournament. The Lions opened up the district tournament with East Carter in what would be a back and forth game before the Lions finally pulling out a 45-38 victory.Elliott County would go on to face West Carter in the district championship and what would be another exciting, barn burning game,with Elliott County pulling out a 64-61 win for the district championship.

Regional Tournament Re-Cap:

2 of the 3 region games the Lions would have would all be barn burners. The Lions would play Fleming County in the opening round game of the 16^th region tournament and wouldn't have much of a problem defeating the Panthers 67-56. The Lions would play a classic in the semi-finals with Boyd County, one of the region's top 3 teams...the Lions would pull out the 73-69 overtime win over the Boyd County Lions...Elliott County would go on to face district foe, West Carter for the regional championship and the right to see who goes to the Sweet 16 and a chance to play at Rupp Arena. A great back and forth game that seen lead changes, overtime, ties and all sorts of stuff before seeing Elliott County pull out another thrilling victory 77-71 over the Comets.

Sweet 16 Opening Round Game:

The Lions will meet Martha Layne Collins in the opening round of the KHSAA Sweet 16 state tournament. This will be the first ever meeting between these two teams and the second appearance for Collins in the KHSAA Sweet 16 state tournament. Collins seems to be struggling as of late while Elliott County seems to be red hot.

Players:

2 out of the 3 leading scorers for the Lions are just sophomores, so this team has a very bright future that we could see at Rupp multiple times. SO guard Korbin Spencer is the leading scorer at 22 points a game, an 81% free throw shooter as well as 41% from 3. SO guard Tanner Dickerson adds in 14 points a game for the Lions. SR guard Chase Porter, adds 16 points a game, shoots 38% from 3 as well as 70% from the charity stripe and grabs at least 8 boards a game. The Lions have 4 players that shoot 70+% from the free throw line.