Lincoln wins at catholic 64-60

Tough place to win. Good win Lincoln!!

Was this game not at 7:30?

No 6:00

No 6:00

 

Glad I didn't make an effort to go. KHSAA Scoreboard said 7:30, but I decided last minute not to make the trip. Glad I did, I would have been highly disappointed.

Scoring:

 

LexCath: T. Johnson 21, Ryan 12, Talbott 11, Griffin 10, Oghugu 3, Boothe 2, Dence 1

Lincoln County: Conway 25, Cornelius 14, Conley 9, Taylor 9, Godby 5, Wilkes 1, Pittman 1

 

DAVE

Revenge from the Christmas tourney when Lexington Catholic beat Lincoln County in the finals.

That Lincoln bunch is pretty solid.

LexCath now 1-4 in last 5 games over past 9 days all against good teams. Is lack of bench depth the issue or are the wheels starting to come off? LexCath will probably be 1-5 in last 6 after going to Wayne Co. on Friday night. They look to be entering the 43rd District tournament on a roll (not the good kind).

Lincoln has won 13 straight.

LexCath now 1-4 in last 5 games over past 9 days all against good teams. Is lack of bench depth the issue or are the wheels starting to come off? LexCath will probably be 1-5 in last 6 after going to Wayne Co. on Friday night. They look to be entering the 43rd District tournament on a roll (not the good kind).

 

I think fatigue has a lot to do with it. I wouldn't say the wheels are falling off. At the end of the day, it's probably going to be a bit of an upset if Dunbar beats them just because of the name and brand of Lexington Catholic. That's still worth something.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Lexington Catholic might be loving people underestimating them and embracing the role of underdog. The losses have definitely raised questions in my mind about whether or not they'd be able to beat Scott County if each played "well".

 

Before their losing streak, they beat Lafayette by 2 (the second time they'd beat them). No guarantee that Lexington Catholic goes in as a loser but draws a bracket where they play the Franklin County/Woodford County winner and then meet the winner of Bryan Station/Henry Clay (loser of the 42nd) and Madison Central (winner of the 44th).

 

That'd leave Lafayette (winner of the 43rd) playing Madison Southern/Woodford County/Franklin County (loser of the 41st or 43rd), and Scott County (winner of the 42nd) playing the other of the Madison Southern/Woodford County/Franklin County.

 

Obviously the above is one very specific scenario, but with the way the 11th Region's districts are split up, the Lexington districts will be in separate brackets and Madison Central will be in one with two of them.

 

I think a really solid goal would be to worry about beating Dunbar above all else, even if it meant saving your legs against Lincoln County and Wayne County.

Lincoln has won 13 straight.

It's actually 14 straight wins for Lincoln. I would say this Lincoln team is as big of a surprise than any team in the state this year. It's all being done with Juniors and one lone Senior.

Catholic has been banged up. We shall see if they can get healthy before Tuesday. Time is running out.

I think fatigue has a lot to do with it. I wouldn't say the wheels are falling off. At the end of the day, it's probably going to be a bit of an upset if Dunbar beats them just because of the name and brand of Lexington Catholic. That's still worth something.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Lexington Catholic might be loving people underestimating them and embracing the role of underdog. The losses have definitely raised questions in my mind about whether or not they'd be able to beat Scott County if each played "well".

 

Before their losing streak, they beat Lafayette by 2 (the second time they'd beat them). No guarantee that Lexington Catholic goes in as a loser but draws a bracket where they play the Franklin County/Woodford County winner and then meet the winner of Bryan Station/Henry Clay (loser of the 42nd) and Madison Central (winner of the 44th).

 

That'd leave Lafayette (winner of the 43rd) playing Madison Southern/Woodford County/Franklin County (loser of the 41st or 43rd), and Scott County (winner of the 42nd) playing the other of the Madison Southern/Woodford County/Franklin County.

 

Obviously the above is one very specific scenario, but with the way the 11th Region's districts are split up, the Lexington districts will be in separate brackets and Madison Central will be in one with two of them.

 

I think a really solid goal would be to worry about beating Dunbar above all else, even if it meant saving your legs against Lincoln County and Wayne County.

 

This is the wrong time of the year to not be playing good basketball.

This is the wrong time of the year to not be playing good basketball.

 

Understand that, but for a lot of these teams, I think it's more of an issue with fatigue. That is to say, they aren't playing well because they're fatigued. I'd think it'd be somewhat different if lots of these teams didn't have so many make-up games packed into a hectic schedule and were losing like they are.

 

Either way, I know it certainly isn't ideal.

 

Lose at Wayne County the last game of the season in a blowout? Who really cares if it's getting your starters plenty of rest and time to heal some nagging injuries (like the Talbott kid has been dealing with). I wouldn't see a complete tank to heal up, hit the reset button, and refocus as a horrible thing.

 

 

One thing I do know: Lexington Catholic in the underdog role is a dangerous proposition. They aren't really there often, but they're a veteran team with a solid staff. They'll be ready.

 

Dunbar is an up and coming team who has the confidence of playing with Lex Cath and seeing them struggle coming into an elimination game at home. They've played them close without their star, Darius Williams. They're still a young team though. We have no clue how those kids are going to handle the whole thing. Lexington Catholic has been there, done that, with respect to these types of games. I'm sure they'd rather be coming in undefeated, but in the grand scheme of things, Lexington Catholic is probably one of the three teams in the region who'd be least affected by coming in on a down note.

 

 

Those three would probably be:

 

1. & 2: Lexington Catholic & Scott County:

Each of those have been in plenty of big games. They're senior laden teams, and those same kids have made deep runs in past years.

 

3. Bryan Station:

It doesn't matter who they are playing, or how they've been playing, it's how they play their game that night.

 

Proof: they went to MoCo and smoked them last night but lost to a well coached, yet still 8 win Tates Creek team only 5 days before.

 

They don't have any bad losses outside of an early drubbing at the hands of Henry Clay and the aforementioned Tates Creek team... their other losses are Dunbar, Lafayette x2, Scott County x2, PRP, Cordia, Wayne County, & Lincoln County). Outside of the MoCo game, their biggest wins are Warren Central & Bardstown at Christmas and Dunbar (who, like Station, was in the midst of a huge stretch where they played a lot of games in a short amount of time).

 

 

I'm a fan of lots of teams in the 11th (guess that's kind of like being an SEC football fan that people will see as a cop-out, but whatev-).

 

 

As far as Catholic goes, if they were MY TEAM and it was a younger bunch, then I'd be a lot more worried about them than I would given their situation now.

 

The name of the game for them right now is to survive and advance. At this moment, their season comes down to beating Dunbar at Dunbar and nothing else until then. Same goes for Dunbar, their season comes down to beating Lexington Catholic at home and nothing else until then.

 

After that, either Lex Cath or Dunbar can worry about trying to beat Lafayette/LCA/Tates Creek in the finals and enhancing their chances of getting a favorable draw at region. While winning the Lexington districts enhance your chances for a better draw, you could still win and see the losers get a more favorable draw than you (of course, that is less likely to happen, but still could).