article 5th Region Week 1 Review

1. Larue County (1-0): The region favorite Larue, started the year with an overtime win. They beat a good team in Valley 64-60 going to overtime in the Corky Cox Classic at home. Mark Goode was fantastic for the Hawks as he had 22 points and 16 rebounds. The Hawks have only had four of the five starters for a week due to their football team making State Semis, so this team getting this win to start off the year is impressive.

2. Central Hardin (2-0): The Bruins had a good start to the year with two lopsided victories. They beat Nelson County at home 78-47 and beat Owensboro in the KY 811 Shootout 67-47. Jacob Hobbs and Gavin George both had big opening games, Hobbs had 23 points and 9 rebounds, while George had 22 points and 9 rebounds. Central Hardin will have a good test as they face Marion County at home Tuesday.

3. John Hardin (0-0): The Bulldogs haven’t played yet, and they will start their season at home vs Adair County on Monday. Should be an exciting team who really likes to play fast.

4. Marion County (2-0): No team in the 5th Region had a more impressive week than the Knights. They beat Bardstown at Bardstown 85-68, and they beat Washington County at home 94-72. In both games, Tyshay Epps and Jamison Epps exhibited fantastic performances. Tyshay Epps scored 29 and 25 points in the first two games and Jamison Epps had two double double games where he had at least 15 rebounds in both games. Marion has a marque game this week as they play Central Hardin at Central Hardin Tuesday.

5. Taylor County (3-0): The Cardinals got off to a great start by winning all three games. They got a win at Bullitt Central 72-65, won at home vs Washington County 82-74, and closed out the week with a win vs Fort Knox at home 80-45. Trevon Smith is trying to make a case for the best player in the region as he averaged 27 points per game and 8 rebounds per game so far. His weakness for his career has been three point shooting and through three games he’s shooting 45 percent.

6. Hart County (2-0): The Raiders started off the year with two wins the first week. They beat Bethlehem at home 61-38 and beat district foe Caverna on the road 90-64. John Shoulders like expected, was the guy for Hart this first week. He had games of 24 points and 30 points while also getting 8 rebounds and 12 rebounds. Hart hasn’t been ranked this high in a while, so it will be interesting to see if they can sustain it.

7. Bardstown (0-2): The season hasn’t gone as planned so far, as the Tigers lost both games this week. They lost at home to Marion County 85-68 and lost on the road to North Bullitt 77-67. The Tigers knew Marion would be a tough game, but losing by that margin was surprising. Jaydon Traynor is showing good promise and for the Tigers to be where they want to be, they need him to be a consistent problem for teams.

8. Washington County (1-2): The Commanders had three tough games and they ended up with one win. They lost on the road at Taylor County 82-74, lost at Marion County 94-72, and won at home beating Elizabethtown 58-55. They played two good teams, but got a nice bounce back win against Etown. Against Marion, Cameron Willis had a big game with 29 points and 7 rebounds. Their schedule will get easier, so don’t be surprised if Washington gets rolling.

9. Campbellsville (1-1): The Eagles split their first two games of the year. They won on the road against Cumberland County 80-64 and lost to Monroe County at home 77-63. The Eagles are led by Malachi Corley and Nataj Sanders, as the two are the guys for Cville. They took a big step forward last year making region semis, so they are trying to maintain that level of play.

10. Adair County (2-1): The Indians lost a ton of talent last year, but they started off the first week of the year going 2 and 1. They won on the road against Cumberland County 70-61, won at home against Green County 62-51, and lost at Cville to Paducah Tilghman 61-53. The Indians beat who they were supposed to beat, and played closer than expected to Paducah Tilghman. Anthony Payne has been the go to guy so far, as he has scored 27, 28, and 19 points in the first three games.

11. Elizabethtown (0-1): Panthers lost their only game this week. The panthers lost as much talent as anyone, so this will be a team that will take some time to get going. Thankfully for them, they do have one contributor from last year Jaquais Franklin.

12. North Hardin (1-2): The Trojans started the first week of the season winning one of their three games. They have some talent back from last year including transfers, so North could improve a lot through the year. In the Oldham County loss, Tony Everett led the team scoring 16.

13. Green County (1-1): The Dragons split their games this week to be even. Green is an experienced team, who can play with a lot of teams because of their athletic ability. Against Barren, Zyler Bardin led Green with 13 points in the win.

14. Thomas Nelson (2-0): The Generals started the year winning the first two games. They won two games in all last year, so it is great to see them have success early after last year’s struggle. Against Edmonson, Hunter Wimsett led them with 27 points.

15. Nelson County (0-2): The Cardinals lost both of their games to start the year. They have some talent back from last year, so I expect them to bounce back. The guards for Nelson will need to try to get it inside to Marcus Shewmaker and Garret Miles for the Cardinals to have a successful season.

16. Caverna (1-1): The Colonels played two games this week and they won one and lost one. They lost a lot of talent from last year’s team, and are inexperienced. In the game against Fort Knox, Drew Rhodes led them with 2 points.

17. Bethlehem (0-3): The Eagles didn’t start the season how they would hope, as they lost all three games and lost them all by big margins. Having a new coach and graduating 6 seniors last year, this was expected. In the game against Bullitt Central, they were led by Brice Gasser with 12 points.

18. Fort Knox (0-4): The Eagles had a busy week playing four games. The bad part was they lost all four. This is a team that lost a lot last year, including two transfers. So this could be a long year. Against Caverna, they were led by Corey Brown with 12 points.

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