article BluegrassPreps.com 3rd Region 12/4 Rankings

As expected, the Owensboro Catholic Aces look impressive to start the season. Behind them though, its a wide open race. If the first week is any indication of the season, there will be a lot of close games inside the region.

1.Owensboro Catholic Aces (2-0) - SAME - The Aces opened up the season in impressive fashion knocking off South Spencer Indiana and 3rd region foe, Meade County by an average margin of 30 points. Catholic expected to be deep coming into the season, and if the first week was any indication they are going to be deep and balanced. Against South Spencer, the Aces were led by big men John Marshall and Ty Vincent (15 each). In the game at Meade on Friday, they were led in scoring by Gabe McFarland and a very balanced attack thru the lineup. The 3rd region games continue this week as Catholic travels to Muhlenberg on Tuesday before returning to Owensboro to take on Apollo at Eagle Arena on Friday.

2.Breckenridge County Tigers (3-0) – UP 2 - The Tigers 3-0 start hasn't been without some cardiac moments. Breck opened up the season with a double overtime win in Edmonson County. Kobe Poole was a force, scoring 31 points in the win. Breck returned to Harned on Thursday to overcome a scrappy Butler County team, 80-79. Hot shooting Tanner Whitworth had 5 3's in the come from behind win. On Friday, Breck got their first district win 80-34 against Cloverport. This week they are at John Hardin on Friday before returning home Friday for a big 11th district game against Hancock County.

3.Apollo Eagles (0-1) – SAME - Apollo stays in the three spot this week, even though they came up short at Warren Central on Friday. The Eagles battled the Dragons in a nip and tuck game throughout. Neither team led by more than 6 points in the game. Apollo got a nice look on a full court drive by Puerto Rican transfer Angel Saldana, but his game winning layup rimmed out at the buzzer. James Graham and Saldana led Apollo with 14. The Eagles have their home opener tonight against Webster County before hosting Owensboro Catholic on Friday.

4.Daviess County Panthers (1-1) – DOWN 2 - DC's season got off to a sluggish start in Madisonville on Tuesday, as they lost to the Maroons by 28 points. The Panthers really struggled to score in the 78-50 defeat. They did bounce back, however, with a nice 68-62 win over Bowling Green in Muhlenberg on Saturday. Blake Boswell led the way with 23 while Nick Driskell and Dakota Walden each reached double figures with 16 & 14 respectively. The Panthers are at Edmonson County on Tuesday before opening 9th district play at Owensboro on Friday. They finally get a home game on Saturday, hosting Logan County.

5.Ohio County Eagles (2-0) – UP 2 - Ohio County is off to a nice start to the 17/18 season, picking up 2 wins in their first week of action. On Tuesday, Ohio knocked off Meade County in a back and forth contest that saw Dylan Decker knock down 3 4th quarter 3's. John Parker was tremendous in the win, scoring 27. On Friday, the Eagles knocked off Hancock County 58-39. Parker again led the way with 17. Tony Hopper is going to have a balanced team, that can go anywhere from 8-10 deep. Freshman sensation Q'Daryius McHenry, got the start in both games and even though he is just getting his footing, you can see the potential. He scored 6 against the Hornets on Friday. Ohio County has a pair of road games this week, Tuesday at Logan County and a big 10th district game at Mclean on Friday.

6.Owensboro Red Devils (0-0) – DOWN 1 - The Devils fall a spot this week, without playing a single game. We'll find out a little about OHS this week though, as they play 4 games. They open play tonight in Whitesville, as they take on the Raiders. Tomorrow they travel to Warren Central before returning home Friday to take on Daviess County. On Saturday they play North Hardin at Daviess County HS in the 811 Shootout.

7.Butler County Bears (2-1) – UP 3 - The Bears sandwiched a pair of wins between a tough last second loss in Breck County on Thursday. Butler knocked off Metcalfe County 78-52 on Tuesday and Thomas Nelson 81-36 on Saturday. Will Moore is picking up right where he left off averaging 21 ppg thru the first week. Brennan Grubb also had an impressive week with 18 ppg. Butler has 3 games at the Bear Cave this week, tonight vs Mclean, tomorrow vs Nelson County and Thursday vs Madisonville.

8.Meade County Greenwave (0-2) – DOWN 2 - Meade County finished their up and down week on a down, but you can see a lot of potential for this team to grow. Friday they were blown out, at home, by #1 Catholic 80-50. The game was never in doubt for the Aces. They showed much better in Ohio County on Tuesday. The Waves held several leads before falling late by 2. Aiden Matthews and Chesney Weick combined for 39 points in the loss. Those 2 will power the Waves early, but look for improvement out of their younger guys with game experience. They will look for their first win this week, as they host Providence, IN on Tuesday, travel to Cloverport on Thursday and return home to take on Campbellsville on Friday.

9.Hancock County Hornets (2-1) – SAME - Hancock opened their season Tuesday night with a 65-31 win over Madison Christian, IN. Jaxon Gray scored 20 in the win. On Friday, Ohio County defeated the Hornets in Hawesville, 58-39 but Hancock bounced back Saturday, surviving a scare from Whitesville Trinity 62-58 in overtime. Big man Lathan Lamar led Hancock with 19 in the win. Hancock will be looking to new leaders after graduating their top scorers but expect them to improve thru the season. Hancock is on the road this week at Cloverport, Breck and St Francis.

10.Muhlenberg County Mustangs (1-2) – DOWN 1 - The Mustangs are searching for their identity early in the season. The Stangs suffered setbacks against Marshall County and Madisonville this past week. They did get a win at home against Grayson County on Thursday, 60-44. One constant for brand new Coach Eades is Will Noffsinger. Will has scored 25, 18 & 28 in the 3 games for an average of 24 ppg. Muhlenberg will have to find him some help if they are going to consistently compete in the region. The Stangs host Catholic on Tuesday and Hopkins Central on Thursday before heading to Daviess County to take on LaRue County in the 811 Shootout, Saturday.

11.Mclean County Cougars (1-1) – UP 1 - The Cougars split a pair of games in their first week, knocking off Lyon County 74-62 on Friday and losing to Hopkins Central 83-75 on Tuesday. The Cougars are getting solid production from Keenan Smith (20 ppg avg) and Logan Patterson (23 ppg avg). Look for Mclean to be much improved on their 3 win season a year ago. They head to Butler County tonight before hosting Ohio County in a 10th district showdown on Friday.

12.Edmonson County Wildcats (1-2) – UP 1 - Edmonson got their first win of the season against Warren East on Friday, 49-42. They lost a heartbreaker to open the season against #2 Breck County back on Tuesday, 68-64. Over the weekend Cumberland County knocked of the Cats 75-57. Edmonson got nice production out of Logan Lindsey and Dylan Elmore this week. It will be interesting to see who steps up after losing their 3 top scorers from a year ago. They are at Caverna tonight and host #4 Daviess County on Tuesday.

13.Whitesville Trinity Raiders (1-1) – UP 1 - 2nd year coach Nathan West's high expectations may be warranted. The Raiders had an impressive opening week, doubling up Cloverport 84-48 to open the season. Almost as impressive was their road performance in Hancock on Saturday. The Raiders took Hancock into overtime before falling 62-58. Joe Brown scored 18 in defeat. Trinity hosts OHS tonight & Union County on Thursday. They travel to Brown on Saturday.

14.Grayson County Cougars (1-1) – DOWN 3 - Grayson split a pair of games in the opening week. They opened on Thursday with a 60-44 loss in Muhlenberg County before bouncing back Saturday with a 58-43 win over Cloverport. The inexperienced Cougars will be looking for scoring and their identity as we get into the pre Christmas tournament schedule. They are at Central Hardin on Tuesday before returning home to host Apollo on Saturday.

15.Cloverport Aces (0-3) – New Coach Scott Bradley is still trying to find the pieces to replace a very talented senior class from a year ago. The Aces took their lumps this week with losses to Trinity 84-48, Breck Co 80-34 and Grayson 58-43. They have 2 11th district home games this week against Hancock and Meade before traveling to Burgin on Saturday.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEK:

Big games inside the 9th District - Catholic @ Apollo & Daviess Co @ Owensboro on Friday

10th District Showdown - Mclean hosts Ohio on Friday, can the Cougars show improvement vs the upstart Hustlers from Ohio Co?

11th District Rivalry - #2 Breck travels to Hancock County Friday.

811 Shootout at Daviess County on Saturday - LaRue vs Mulenberg, North Hardin vs OHS & Daviess County vs Logan County

Excellent work. I always love reading about Regions that I don't get to see in person.

Excellent work. I always love reading about Regions that I don't get to see in person.

Agree 100%, thanks for helping bring the other regions to life for us.:thumb:

Solid work. I think the poll is spot on right now. This is a big week with TONS of marquee matchups. We're going to know a whole lot more by next week. One thing is for sure at this moment: Owensboro Catholic is the real deal. The Aces may not lose more than 4 games all year.

I was at the Meade Co. game at Ohio Co. (Meade lost by 2 on a foul call with 3 seconds to go). A few takeaways are that Ohio Co. must have hit 70% of its 3 point shots. Haven't seen their stats for that game yet, but it felt like they hit everything. I think they also went 26 of 29 from the line (something close to that based on what I heard). They may not shoot that well again all season. Meade led for most of the game and even had an 8 to 10 point lead midway through the 4th. A few late turnovers, a couple of questionable foul calls and some late 3's were the difference. Again, that game was played at Ohio Co. Aiden Matthews is a different player this year. He can hit shots from all over the floor as he did against Ohio Co. He put up 21 points while only taking 12 shots from the floor (also dealt with some early fouls). Although Ohio Co. appears to have improved since last year, I give Meade Co. the edge between those two teams.

On Meade's game against Owensboro Catholic, they simply were not ready to handle the press. Catholic came in with a great game plan. Many of those baskets were steals on the press right underneath Meade's basket for easy buckets. Their execution was flawless. Meade's coach shut everything down in that one pretty early and cleared out his bench to make a point. Meade definitely has a long way to go if they will have any chance at playing with Catholic.

Meade did show some grit last night in a comeback win against Providence, Indiana. Matthews and Schwartz led the way in the win.