article BluegrassPreps.com 3rd Region Rankings 12/18/17

Early in the season, it looks like the 9th district is the class of the 3rd Region. At least as of right now, their is a major drop off after the top 3 teams in Daviess County, Owensboro Catholic and Owensboro. The Devils may have the highest of any team in the region, as they turned a lot of heads state wide with a big win over Christian County this past week. It will be interesting to see if anyone outside the city can compete with the teams from Owensboro.

1.Daviess County Panthers (6-1) – UP 1 - DC moves into the top spot this week after their huge win over Owensboro Catholic on Friday. The Panthers fell way behind early in the game, but settled into the Aces full court press and pushed ahead in the 2nd half. Seniors Nick Driskell and Caden Coomes powered the Panthers to the big early season win. Daviess County has now won 6 straight games as they head into the holiday tournament season. They play in the OIT starting Thursday with games against St X, Owensboro and a very good team out of TN.

2.Owensboro Catholic Aces (4-2) - DOWN 1 - After a red hot start in their first 4 games, Catholic has dropped their last 2. The Aces looked like they were going to run Daviess County out of the gym on Friday, but gave up a lot of transition buckets and became very stagnant on offense. The season is young, and there is no doubt Coach Riley will have the Aces improving as the season moves along. The Aces head into the holiday tournament season this week with the OIT starting on Thursday. They have games against Bullitt East, Apollo and Monroe County.

3.Owensboro Red Devils (4-2) – UP 3 - Since losing to Daviess County last week, their hasn't been a hotter team in western Kentucky than the Owensboro Red Devils. Back on Tuesday night, OHS got a running clock win over BGP #12 Christian County. Lance Lewis had 19 points and Cory Gardner 16 in the 82-43 blowout. On Friday, the Devils kept the trend alive with a big win over Apollo, 67-49. Lewis again was tough, scoring over 20 in the contest. Owensboro's pressure defense was just to much for the Eagles to handle. The Devils roll into tonight's game at Ohio County on a big 3 game win streak. In the OIT later this week, they will play a team out of TN, Daviess County and St X this week.

4.Apollo Eagles (3-3) – SAME - Apollo's up and down start continued this week. It started with a big win over a solid Butler County team, 78-53. The Eagles got nice games from Alex Gray, Angel Saldana and James Graham in the win. On Friday, they fell to Owensboro 67-49. Apollo had no answer for the Devils full court press and simply had trouble scoring the basketball. They have been outscored by 18 in both 9th district showdowns this season. It appears it will take some time to develop consistency in the Eagles offense. Apollo plays in the OIT this week against Monroe County, Catholic and Bullitt East.

5.Meade County Greenwave (4-2) – UP 3 - Since starting the season 0-2, the Greenwave have won 4 straight. Noah Schwartz has returned to the Meade County lineup and given the team a big spark. They went on the road and picked up a big win against Breck County on Friday. Senior guard Matt Collard led the Waves in scoring. This week Meade heads to the Henry Clay holiday tourney for games against Doss, Garrard Co, Male and host Henry Clay.

6.Breckenridge County Tigers (5-2) – DOWN 3 - The Tigers split a pair of games this week, first knocking off Whitesville Trinity 84-67. On Friday, Meade County upset Breck in a big 11th district contest. It was a tough loss for Breck at home, early in the season. Kobe Poole had 19 in defeat. Breck hosts their own holiday tournament this week, with games against Grayson County, Hart County and Louisville Holy Cross.

7.Muhlenberg County Mustangs (4-5) – UP 3 - The Mustangs are showing some very quick improvements early on. They went 2-1 this week, with a huge 10th district win on the road in Ohio County. Will Noffsinger is an early season player of the year candidate, as he has led the Mustangs in scoring in all 9 contests. Friday, Muhlenberg dropped a close game to a very good McCraken team by only 4 but bounced back with a nice 77-66 win over Cairo IL on Saturday. Noffsinger was good for 35 in the win. He has a 24ppg average thus far. This week, the Stangs travel to Graves County for games against the Eagles and Calloway County.

8.Ohio County Eagles (4-2) – DOWN 3 - Ohio County suffers a big drop this week, even with a solid 4-2 record. Ohio County split a pair of games this week. On Tuesday they suffered a rough home setback to Muhlenberg County. 10th district games are extra important due to being a 3 team district, the regular season champion gets an automatic berth into the regional tournament. On Friday, the Eagles bounced back with an 18 point win over Butler County. The Eagles play red hot Owensboro tonight before joining Muhlenberg in Graves County this week for games against the Eagles and Carslie County.

9.Butler County Bears (4-4) – DOWN 2 - Since starting the season 4-1, the Bears have now dropped 3 straight games. Butler suffered double digit losses to Madisonville, Apollo and Ohio County. They had averaged 75 ppg thru the first 6 games but only managed 50 and 53 this week, as they struggled from the field. The Bears will go as far as their hot shooting guards Will Moore and Brennan Grubb will take them. They are at Daviess County tonight before hosting their own holiday tournament against Cumberland County and Bullitt Central this week.

10.Whitesville Trinity Raiders (4-4) – SAME - The Raiders dropped tough games against Breck County and Daviess County this week. No shame in losing to the upper teams in the region. They bounced back with a nice 37 point win over Columbus Christian on Saturday. Cameron Wright and Dalton Crisp continue to lead the charge for Coach West's Raiders. This week Trinity will face some solid competition at the Hancock County holiday tournament vs the Hornets, Russellville, Jeffersonville, IN and Madisonville.

11.Hancock County Hornets (4-4) – SAME - The Hornets put and end to their 3 game losing streak this week with a 54-38 win over Lighthouse Christian. Jaxson Gray and Jacob White were big in the victory. This week they host solid competition vs Whitesville Trinity, Russellville, Jeffersonville, IN and Madisonville in their own Aleris Holiday Tournament.

12.Grayson County Cougars (3-3) – UP 2 - Grayson County won 2 games in a row this week and played Apollo very tough last weekend in defeat. It appears the Cougars are trending in the right direction. They knocked of Thomas Nelson on Tuesday and got a big 12th district win over Edmonson on Satuday. Logan Majors leads the way with 14ppg while Bailey Logsdon is right on his heels at 13ppg. Grayson heads to the Breck County holiday tournament this week with games against the Tigers, Ft Knox, Hart County and Louisville Holy Cross.

13.Mclean County Cougars (1-5) – SAME - The Cougars continue to play good teams close but are coming up just short. Its only a matter of time before they break through and start winning some of these close games. Mclean will take the holiday week off before getting back in action in Greenup County after the Christmas holiday.

14.Edmonson County Wildcats (2-6) – DOWN 2 - The Cats have now lost 4 straight games since opening the season 2-2. Losses to LaRue, Barren & a 1 point district loss to Grayson County made for a tough week. Edmsonson will look to bounce back at the Warren East holiday tourney this week. They have games against the Raiders, North Hardin, Greenwood and Franklin Simpson

15.Cloverport Aces (1-8) – SAME - Cloverport lost 2 games to open the week 81-61 to Eminence and 66-47 to Cannelton, Indiana. On Saturday the Aces picked up their first win of the season, a 72-65 win over Columbus Christian. Dylan Simmons is at a 15ppg average for the Aces. Cloverport will look to stay hot with games against Burgin and Tremble County this week.

1 V 3 tonight should say something about how Owensboro has been playing since they lost to County. Sizes up to be a very good game. Fitting that the rematch is on the "Neutral" floor of the sports center.