Clay County 60 Knox Central 59 (13th Semis)

[JokersWild24]

Final.

[JokersWild24]

What... a... comeback. Farmer with a clutch 3 and another clutch score that only left KC enough time for a last heave that was off.

[2-3-Zone]

Wow, all I can say. Mr Clutch!

[JokersWild24]

Wow, all I can say. Mr Clutch!

 

He and Smith both sounded like they came to play tonight. Team effort though and Wolfe, House, and Sexton can all do some things too.

[JokersWild24]

Coach Marcum is being extremely complimentary about KC and their talent in his post game.

 

CC has survived two tough tests on back to back nights. Corbin and Knox Central back to back and it's not been easy. Now a day of rest and they'll try to get ready to finish it off by beating a relatively rested Williamsburg, whose first round game was three days ago.

[JokersWild24]

Shout out to Ryan House whose defensive effort held Barger, one of the region's top players to only 6.

[stay_strong]

Blake Smith put on a show tonight in the 2nd half, he dominated the game and Knox had no answer for him, Farmer makes 2 huge buckets, and House played some of the best defense on Barger I've seen in a while. Only negative thing I can say is Farmer plays ZERO defense. He must play better D against Williamsburg.

[PurplePride92]

Shout out to Ryan House whose defensive effort held Barger, one of the region's top players to only 6.

 

Wow. Very impressive. Barger is a nice nice player.

[JokersWild24]

Wow. Very impressive. Barger is a nice nice player.

 

Man, I've seen lots of Clay County teams, and this is a special group of kids.

 

They've worked really hard to put Clay County back atop the throne in the 13th after a long drought (over the past two years). One more left with Williamsburg on Monday night though before I say anything else. I've been quiet on Clay Co. other than the update threads and commentary after the games.

 

I will say that if you listen to or talked to people who went to the past two, they'll tell you that both were wars, and that Clay Co. had to dig deep to pull them out, but found a way to do it.

 

In the post-game radio show, you could tell how excited Coach Marcum was and one of his quotes was that he couldn't wait to get back to the locker room to congratulate the kids on doing what they'd done to that point, but he was sure to say that they'd celebrate in the moment, then immediately focus on Williamsburg.

[stay_strong]

I 100% agree about this group being special. And I think a lot of it has to do with what has been instilled into these kids, the tradition, legacy, and grit of Clay County basketball from the glory days. 3 of the 5 starters Dad's or family members where former greats of from the Hay day of CC. Then you have Marcum returning to Coach and getting Coach Keith back involved. There have been comparisons the last 2 years to how much Blake Smith and Trey Farmer remind people of Richie and Russ Chadwell. Trey is a mirror image of Richie game on the court, and Blake takes his dad Marks defensive game and combines it with Chadwells high flying offensive game it's crazy to watch. Then Wes wolfe is Eugene "Box Head" Rawlings cousin. Then you have kids like Ryan House who was told by other coaches he wasn't good enough to play for them, playing with a huge chip on his shoulder. These kids are all about winning and have a great shot at getting to Rupp for the 3rd straight year. Love to watch this team, ain't no quit in them

[Science Friction]

Rooting for the Burg! Haven't rooted for Clay since Methuselah was a child.

[The Professor]

I've always admired the basketball tradition at Clay County, and have rooted for them everytime they've been in the Sweet 16, but one has to have feelings for Williamsburg in this game. I'm not sure they've ever won their region, but I may be wrong about that.

Small schools don't get very many chances to make it to the Big Dance. Clay's been there close to 30 times.

[stay_strong]

Clay co and Williamsburg played in the 1987 regional finals. Clay was led then by a Farmer and a skinny white kid that could jump out of the gym in Chadwell. Williamsburg was led by 2 brothers Cornetts I believe. This year Clay is led by a Farmer and a skinny white kid that can jump out of gym in Blake "hillbilly hops" Smith. And Williamsburg is led by 2 brothers griffths I believe. Clay won in 87 and went on to win the state title. So I'm taking clay in this one and hoping for a run at a state title. Kind of Erie though the similarities of the games.