Inside the 15th Region (12-31-14)

The first month of the basketball season has come to a close and with it Week 4 in the 15th Region is in the books. After Christmas the 15th Region saw teams compete in the Lake Cumberland Holiday Classic, the Pikeville Invitational, the Mountain School Boy Classic, and the Traditional Bank Holiday Classic. Some highlights from week 4 include Peyton Case from Betsy Layne dropping 47 on Perry County Central in an OT win, Johnson Central finally get healthy and beating one of the top teams in Tennessee, Sheldon Clark stay undefeated, and Lawrence County win the P.I.T. The top 3 teams in the 15th Region has established themselves and seem to be solid contenders, however, the middle of the pack in the 15th seems to pull upsets and/or lose to teams they should not on a weekly basis. Nonetheless, listed below is our top 5 after 4 weeks of play.

1. Sheldon Clark (9-0) – The Sheldon Clark Cardinals did not participate in a traditional tournament but did compete in Mountain School Boy Classic. In the School Boy Classic each team plays other set games, rather than a bracketed out tournament. In the showcase, SC defeated June Buchanan 82-71 and Cass (GA) 66-43. In the June Buchanan Game SR PG Chase Parsley poured in 31 points and get 11 assists (Dylan James added 20 points and 9 rebounds) for Head Coach Frankie Smith. The dynamic duo of Parsley and James keep producing as they are both averaging over 20 ppg and what is scary is the role players are getting better as well. Marvin Albrecht (German Foreign Exchange Student) is getting more touches in post and starting to find his niche is Coach Smith’s system, Kaleb Sturgill (sharpshooter from Tolsia, WV) has seen his ppg increase by 5 over the last two weeks, and reserves Ethan Osborne and Bradley Dalton has shown they can hit back breaking 3’s when needed. Sheldon Clark will be a tough out as they will begin the All-A tournament this weekend (they are the favorite to win the region).

2. Lawrence County (6-3) – The Bulldogs Won the Pikeville Invitational Tournament defeating Lee County 102-57, Paintsville 75-68, and fellow 60th District opponent Pike Central 78-71 in the championship. LC played most of the tournament without stand out player Timmy Dalton (reason for not playing unknown). Lawrence County is tough to beat when their starters are rolling (all averaging double figures) and out of foul trouble as they are extremely athletic and fast. But lack of bench support may come back to haunt them in the post season as they go up against Johnson Central and Sheldon Clark (two teams who have great depth). Week 4 was a success for LC as they got to taste tournament victory for the first time, a feeling they can draw on in March. The Bulldogs will look to keep rolling in week 5 as they play a team very similar to them in George Rogers Clark on Saturday 3 Jan. 2015. This will be a fun game as both teams play all guards and really like to get up and down the floor.

3. Johnson Central (7-7) - Coach Tommy McKenzie’s Golden Eagles are finally healthy and in Week 4 we got the first look at the team with Patrick Rice and Kyle Gullett in the line-up. JC traveled to Somerset where they competed in the Lake Cumberland Holiday Classic. In the first game the Golden Eagles fell to Warren Central 62-70 (A game in which JC led much of the first 3 quarters). The Warren Central game also saw the return of Kyle Gullett from an ankle injury (19 pts, 5 rbs, 3 blks, 3 asts) and continued great outside shooting from SOPH G Mason Blair (28 pts on 10/19 from the field 8/16 from 3 – his second game with 8 made 3’s). The Second game pitted JC against Louisville Valley as they cruised to victory 79-50 behind Kyle Gullett’s 25 pts, 4 rbs, 3 asts, 1 stl. The third game JC played in the tournament was against a very tall and athletic Louisville Shawnee team. This game saw Kyle Gullett increase his production for a third consecutive night since returning from injury as JC would win 77-62 (Gullett 28 pts, 9 rbs, 3 blks, 1 stl, 1 ast – Became the 24th member of the Johnson Central 1,000 point club). In their final game of the tournament Johnson Central would face Pope John Paul II, TN. JPII is a top 20 ranked team in the state of TN with potentially two division I guards. This was no problem for the Golden Eagles as Mason Blair (29 pts, 4 rbs, 3 stls, 1 blk) would rain in 5 three’s on his way to being named Gold Star Chili Offensive Player of the Game, leading the Eagles to the 76-64 win. Braxton Blair would have 23 pts, 4 rbs, 4 ast, 2 stls and Kyle Gullett chipped in 14 pts to along with 7 rbs, 4 blks, 1 ast in the contest. Week 4 saw JC go 3-1 against some very good competition. When healthy they are the team to beat in the 15th Region and they are healthy right now. Don’t be surprised to see JC go on a very long win streak now that they are in regional play and move up our list as they have played the most difficult schedule in the 15th Region and its not even close.

4. Pike Central (6-5) – The Pike Central Hawks competed in the Pikeville Invitational after the Christmas Holiday and had yet another impressive run. Coming off a tournament win in the High Tech Signs and Graphics at Prestonsburg High School, PC made a push to the championship game of the Pikeville Invitational Tournament by defeating South Floyd 69-57, Pikeville 74-69 then falling to Lawrence County 71-78. The loss snapped a 5 game win streak but was still enough to propel the Hawks into our top 5. Teddy Smith (12.6 ppg), Brad Elkins (9.6 ppg), Braxton Tibbs (8.7 ppg) and big man Ethan Blackburn (9.3 ppg) have paced Pike Central’s balanced scoring attack, each having at least one big game during their tournament runs. When you can get production across the board like PC has, it makes it difficult for teams to game plan against you. After losing their best player (PG Tyler Burnett to Boyd County) and Head Coach, Pike Central was not expected to do much this season, but have surprised the entire region with their play. If they continue to improve at this pace, watch out in the 15th Region Tournament.

5. Betsy Layne (8-5) – 5 games in 5 days at the Traditional Bank Holiday Classic. That’s what Betsy Layne did beginning the day after Christmas. The tournament opened for the Bobcats with a loss vs. Host school Lexington Catholic 57-90. The second game saw BL hit a buzzer beater to defeat Campbell, NH 72-70. Games 3 and 4 saw the 2nd and 3rd running clock of the tournament put on Betsy Layne as they lost to Bryan Station 41-73 and Henry Clay 40-79. Then comes the 5th game and the anomaly that is Betsy Layne as they defeat Perry Central 82-75 (OT) with Peyton Case scoring 47 points. Its mind boggling how a team can get 3 running clocks put on them, they defeat a top 30 team in the state. Is Perry Central overrated? Is Betsy Layne underrated? This is what makes it difficult to rank the 15th Region after the first 3. Anyone seems to be able to beat anyone on a given night. Nonetheless, Betsy Layne challenged themselves in a quality tournament and will only get better from their experience as they move forward into regional play.

Upsets in the Region:

Betsy Layne defeated Perry Central 82-75 in the Traditional Bank Holiday Classic (Their 5th Game in 5 days)

Games to Watch in Week 5:

Johnson Central @ Magoffin County Friday 2 Jan. 2015

Betsy Layne vs. Prestonsburg Saturday 3 Jan. 2015 (All A Classic)

Sheldon Clark vs. East Ridge Friday 2 Jan. 2015 (All A Classic)

Agree or Disagree?