article 4th Region Week 5 Review

1) Bowling Green (10-2) - 12/27 78-51 W Murray, 12/28 78-63 W Owensboro, 12/29 62-57 W Graves County

Previous Rank: 2

This Week: 1/4 at #10 Greenwood, 1/5 vs. Muhlenberg County

 

Ever since the Purples dropped the house on Glasgow in the second game of the year I've been tempted to move them to the top slot, but a strong run through the holidays has made it clear they needed to ascend. Bowling Green won their Christmas tournament for the fourth straight year against one of the better slates they've faced in it. Murray doesn't have a strong record, but has made a habit of playing good teams closely. Owensboro was fresh off a win over a rising Madisonville team. And Graves County entered their game unbeaten against Kentucky teams. BG did to each what they've done in most games this year - punched them directly in the face early and quickly. The Purples are ending games before they even truly begin, and their game against Graves is the only one where they let it get close again. The Eagles managed to close an 18 point deficit all the way down to two late in the fourth quarter, but Bowling Green held on. They have three games in between now and their trip to Warren Central on the 11th - they're a virtual lock to win them all.

 

2) Warren Central (6-3) - 12/28 51-58 L John Hardin (at Taylor County), 12/29 47-71 L Doss

Previous Rank: 1

This Week: 1/4 vs. #12 Warren East, 1/5 vs. #8 Barren County

 

The Dragons have some soul searching to do if they expect to be able to compete with Bowling Green in two weeks. They've now dropped three of four, and after opening the year with five straight 80+ efforts, they have had three under 52 points since. And that's been fueled by an ugly remnant of a couple of poor Dragon seasons this decade - putrid perimeter shooting. They are 27/98 (27.6%) in their last four games from three. They did battle back against John Hardin after a very poor first half, and the Bulldogs are playing as well as anyone in the state. The Dragons have spent most of the season away from home, and get a pair of home games this week which should settle them back into a confident groove. They need it.

 

3) Logan County (11-2) - 12/27 67-50 W at Nelson County, 12/28 70-48 W Boyle County (at Nelson County), 12/29 74-62 W Meade County (at Nelson County)

Previous Rank: 3

This Week: 1/4 at #16 Russellville, 1/5 vs. #10 Greenwood

 

The Cougars are over halfway to their first 20 win season in seven years and they've done that before reaching New Year's Day. They ran through the Nelson County Classic, capping it with a 74-62 win over Meade County. The Cougars have been bucking the trend of teams that light everything up from the outside, taking only 33% of their shots from the perimeter. As it stands right now, Logan County is favored in every game for the rest of the regular season. This could be a special 2019.

 

4) Allen County-Scottsville (12-2) - 12/27 61-50 W Sayre, 12/28 68-50 W Daviess County, 12/29 72-71 W Owensboro Catholic

Previous Rank: 7

This Week: 1/4 at #6 Monroe County

 

Speaking of a special team, the Patriots keep rolling. They caught a bad beat the previous week in an OT loss to Paintsville, but this time they wrapped up a title in their home Christmas tournament, with a particularly impressive win over third region power Owensboro Catholic. A trio of Patriots are leading the way for AC/S, with Brett Rippy the team leader right now with 16.8 PPG closely followed by super soph Mason Shirley's 16.0 PPG. It has been Shirley that has been the x-factor that no one saw coming entering the season. He averaged less than 1 PPG last year as a freshman. Owen Stamper is also noteworthy with 10.6 PPG entering 2019. AC/S already has their high total for wins since 2015 when they won 14. They need just five more wins to notch their high win total since 2009. They start their march to that with a crucial road game against district foe Monroe County on Friday.

 

5) Clinton County (9-5) - 12/27 36-61 L Montgomery Bell Academy (TN) (at Pigeon Forge (TN)), 12/28 46-54 L North Murray (GA) (at Pigeon Forge (TN)), 12/29 58-53 W Knoxville Central (TN) (at Pigeon Forge (TN))

Previous Rank: 4

This Week: 1/3 vs. Pickett County (TN), 1/4 at #15 Metcalfe County

 

As with last week, there's not much to say about the Bulldogs at the moment. They've sort of done what they needed to do, and unfortunately we don't know much about the teams they played this last week, going 1-2 in the King of the Smokies tournament. They are 3-0 in 16th District play, and will completely wrap up the games that count for the district standings in the next 12 days. They start that with a Metcalfe County team they obliterated by 43 on December 7th.

 

6) Monroe County (7-7) - 12/27 67-70 L Bullitt East (at Bowling Green), 12/28 70-69 W #11 South Warren (at Bowling Green), 12/29 67-69 L Madisonville-North Hopkins (at Bowling Green)

Previous Rank: 5

This Week: 1/4 vs. #4 Allen County-Scottsville

 

Monroe County concluded a ghastly 1-5 Christmas season in the Meijer Holiday Classic. Their lone win in the last six games came against 4-10 South Warren, and it was by a single point. Many of their losses are not to bad teams - Owensboro Catholic, Hopkinsville, Owensboro, Madisonville - but a win somewhere in there other than South would have been nice. Still, they're 2-0 in the 15th District, so it's hard to envision moving them behind the teams they've beaten. They square off with Allen County-Scottsville for the first time this season on January 4th, and it's at home. The Patriots have been white-hot, and the winner of this one will become the big favorite to take the #1 seed for the postseason.

 

7) Glasgow (7-4) - 12/28 64-58 W at #8 Barren County

Previous Rank: 6

This Week: 1/4 vs. #11 South Warren, 1/5 at #13 Todd County Central

 

The Scotties had a relatively quiet week, just taking on their crosstown rival in their house. It was the fourth game in a row at Barren County for Glasgow, and they have still traveled outside their county borders a single time this year. They picked up a crucial win over the Trojans in large part due to Nik Sorrell. The junior poured in 32 points in the win, helping the Scotties to overcome an early 8 point deficit. They trailed as late as the 2:15 mark, winning a back and forth affair. They settle in for some very winnable games this week ahead of their 2A Championship sectional game against Warren East on the 7th.

 

8) Barren County (5-6) - 12/28 58-63 L #6 Glasgow

Previous Rank: 8

This Week: 1/4 at Adair County, 1/5 at #2 Warren Central

 

On the other side of that rival matchup were the Trojans. As mentioned last week this was a highly critical game as it was the second of three home district games they'll have and they'd already lost the first one. Now, Barren County is 0-3 in the district with only one home game left to play on the slate. It is looking extremely likely they'll have to play out of the #4 spot in the postseason. Will Bandy entered the contest averaging 16.6 PPG, but exceeded that with 25 in the losing effort.

 

9) Franklin-Simpson (6-7) - 12/27 64-68 OT L Owensboro Catholic (at Allen County-Scottsville), 12/28 54-51 W Henderson County (at Allen County-Scottsville), 12/29 56-44 W Sayre (at Allen County-Scottsville)

Previous Rank: 9

This Week: 1/4 vs. #13 Todd County Central

 

Franklin narrowly missed out on a marquee win, leading Owensboro Catholic much of the way before falling in overtime. They rebounded to take home the consolation title in the South Central Bank-Halton Classic. They're just one game shy of their win total from all of last year, and will look to pick up their first district win over the season when they host Todd County Central. The Rebels defeated Franklin in both their meetings last season.

 

10) Greenwood (6-6) - 12/27 64-46 W Henderson County (at Allen County-Scottsville), 12/28 52-62 L Owensboro Catholic (at Allen County-Scottsville), 12/29 58-59 OT L Daviess County (at Allen County-Scottsville)

Previous Rank: 10

This Week: 1/4 vs. #1 Bowling Green, 1/5 at #3 Logan County

 

Ben Carroll has been keeping the Gators afloat, posting 27, 21, and 23 points in their three games in the South Central Bank-Halton Classic. But despite his effort, the Gators could not follow up the momentum of their Caveland Classic title, finishing fourth in the tournament. Jack Roberts remains out for a couple more weeks with his fractured hand, so Carroll will be expected to keep it up. They face two likely losses this week, having lost their last 15 against Bowling Green and also facing a stout Logan County squad.

 

11) South Warren (4-10) - 12/27 59-71 L Graves County (at Bowling Green), 12/28 69-70 L #5 Monroe County (at Bowling Green), 12/29 62-67 L Murray (at Bowling Green)

Previous Rank: 11

This Week: 1/4 at #7 Glasgow

 

The math has now turned heavily against South Warren following up last season's winning record effort as the Spartans have dropped seven of eight. They have 14 games remaining, and four of those games are against Bowling Green and Warren Central - two teams they've literally never beaten. Rough times ahead. On the positive side, Jace Carver (12.1 PPG) has been a young standout to complement Tyler Martin (15.8 PPG).

 

12) Warren East (8-6) - 12/27 65-60 W Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences (TN) (at Ohio County), 12/28 49-61 L #17 Russellville (at Ohio County), 12/29 69-73 L at Ohio County

Previous Rank: 12

This Week: 1/4 at #2 Warren Central

 

The Raiders had momentum coming off a title in their holiday tournament, but it slipped away in Ohio County. After a win out of a team out of Chattanooga, East took a bad, bad loss to Russellville, posting a season low 49 points. East shot just 35.7% from the field in that one, including just 6/24 from three. Even the free throw line failed them, going just 3-8. They'll look to snap a 13 game skid against Warren Central on Friday.

 

13) Todd County Central (5-10) - 12/27 55-77 L Daviess County (at Allen County-Scottsville), 12/28 60-56 W Sayre (at Allen County-Scottsville), 12/29 45-73 L Henderson County (at Allen County-Scottsville)

Previous Rank: 13

This Week: 1/4 at #9 Franklin-Simpson, 1/5 vs. #7 Glasgow

 

The Rebels have dropped 7 of 9 and 4 of 5 entering the new year. Their lone win in Allen County was against 2-10 Sayre. Not much positive momentum going for the Rebels heading into a district contest with Franklin-Simpson.

 

14) Russell County (2-9) - 12/27 51-75 L Cincinnati Aiken (OH), 12/28 47-65 L Newport Central Catholic

Previous Rank: 14

This Week: 1/4 at #17 Cumberland County, 1/5 vs. Whitley County (at South Laurel)

 

I didn't include it because I don't know who they played let alone the score, but per the Russell County Twitter they actually are 3-9 having won their final game in the Lake Cumberland Holiday Hoops Classic. Without knowing that result, they still have only one game on the year where they scored over 55 points, and are 0-9 when scoring less than that.

 

15) Metcalfe County (5-9) - 12/27 66-54 W Whitefield Academy (at Danville), 12/28 38-77 L Webster County (at Danville), 12/28 50-70 L at Danville

Previous Rank: 15

This Week: 1/4 vs. #5 Clinton County, 1/5 vs. Dawson Springs

 

The Hornets now have more wins than their last two years combined, and already their highest win total since they won five in 2012. One more win, and it'll be the most since Metcalfe legend Tim McMurtrey's last season in 2011 (16 wins). A winning record still seems like a stretch, but Coach Brockman has had a successful season.

 

16) Russellville (5-8) - 12/27 49-63 L at Ohio County, 12/28 61-49 W #12 Warren East (at Ohio County), 12/29 58-52 W Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences (TN)

Previous Rank: 17

This Week: 1/4 vs. #3 Logan County

 

I was somewhat hesitant to move the Panthers back ahead of a Cumberland County team they lost to, but Russellville has now won 4 of 5, which included a nice win over Warren East. Jacob Naylor is the one doing most of the heavy lifting. He has already posted 330 points and is averaging 27.5 per game. Elijah Kemp has chipped in 14.5 points. They get their first crack at Logan County this season in the clash of the cats on Friday.

 

17) Cumberland County (2-9) - 12/27 47-81 L Somerset, 12/28 47-81 L Wayne County, 12/29 vs. TBA

Previous Rank: 16

This Week: 1/4 vs. #14 Russell County

 

Speaking of Cumberland County, they have now lost four in a row. It would be by no means mathematically impossible for them to climb out of the cellar with a loss, but if they do lose at home to Russell County, they become extremely at risk of seeing Clinton County come district time.

ttt