The 8th Region continues its 56th season at the Roy L Winchester Gym in New Castle tonight with the semi-final round.

 

Gone are the favorite, Walton-Verona, and the #3-ranked team in the region, the defending champion Collins Titans.

 

That means a new champion in 2018.

 

Live video coverage on the Pegasus Sports Network (The Pegasus Sports Network - PSN) begins at 6 pm ET tonight with the pregame for South Oldham vs. Anderson County.

 

The Bearcats demise was apparently prematurely reported by many, as Glen Drury's Cats have rebounded to win the 30th district behind two upset wins over Spencer County and Collins, in games where AC slowed down the pace and kept the scoring in the 40s. Last week, Anderson opened the region with a 13 point win over the homestanding Henry County Wildcats with a solid, if sometimes uneven performance that saw AC roll out to 20 point third quarter lead, only to see Henry cut it to 8 in the fourth. Cobe Penny keeps racking up the points, and the Cats finally seem healthy, really for about the first time this year. Anderson only had about 10 practices all season where they had an entire team healthy and available for practice. Anderson, who has been region runner-ups the last two years, will try to make it to the finals for a third consecutive year, and perhaps finish the job.

 

South Oldham - Steve Simpson's crew seems to have problems winning the 29th district against arch-rival Oldham County - but they have little problem in the region. The Dragons have won 3 of the past 5 region titles the hard way; entering the region tourney as a district runner-up each time. Like AC, South seems to be finally rid of the flu bug that has hounded this roster in the final month of the season. The Dragons, saddled with perhaps the toughest first round matchup of the tourney, dispatched 11th-ranked Walton-Verona, the prohibitive tourney favorite, in round 1 behind a blistering barrage of third quarter threes that buried Walton under a 17 point deficit. Then, when the Bearcats cut the lead all the way down to 2, South displayed their free throw shooting prowess, and put the game away at the line, where they hit 20 of 26. Devin Young has apparently regained his shooting eye, leading South with 25 points, including 5 of 9 beyond the arc.

 

Anderson County won the regular season meeting in December by 2 points in Lawrenceburg.

 

The second game will be broadcast separately, beginning about 8:10 pm at The Pegasus Sports Network - PSN

 

Oldham County vs. Gallatin County

 

This will be the first meeting this year between two teams that once battled annually when they were District 31 rivals.

 

Oldham County (27-5) inherits the mantle of region favorite now, after dispatching Collins for the second time this year in one of the top games - if not THE top game - of round 1. The Colonels seem to be very business-like of late, and with all-region guard Jackson Gibson healthy again, the Colonels are starting to click again. Since returning to the lineup in the district 29 finals, Gibson is averaging 20 ppg over the past two contests (vs South Oldham and Collins), 6 rebounds, and hitting 64% of his shots. How Gallatin defends Gibson will be interesting, as he is perhaps the best dribble-drive penetrator in the region not named Cobe Penny, and Oldham has multiple weapons to throw at the Cats if Gibson is slowed, including all-region performers Travis Henderson and Zach Larimore. The wild card is junior forward Christian Harper, whose 13 points and team-high 9 rebounds against Collins was key in the first round win. Key for Oldham will be shooting; the Colonels are ranked #6 in the state in field goal percentage, but the Roy sometimes plays havoc on shooters. That said, Oldham hit 64% from the field against Collins in round 1.

 

Gallatin County will be a formidable foe as the Cats have also rung up an impressive win total this year, going 26-7 to date. Jon Jones is one of the most dangerous coaches come tournament time, and the Wildcats were the last team from the 31st to reach the 8th region title game (in 2008, when they lost to Shelby County). The Cats have been all over the state rankings this year, as one of the premier shooting teams. Jaymee Hale is currently #8 in the state at 67.6% from the field.....Troy Coomer is #8 in the state at 86% from the free throw line....Coomer is also fourth in the state at 3.5 made threes per game...and Gallatin as a team is #9 in the state in scoring defense, giving up just 50.5 ppg. Like Oldham, Gallatin has multiple all-region performers, including Coomer and Justin Rassman. Although Gallatin did not play Oldham this year, they did play the other two semi-finalists, beating Anderson by 12 and losing to South Oldham by just two points, with both games coming recently. Coomer is the man Oldham will have to contain; he hits 52% of his shots, averages 16.7 ppg, and not only hits 86% of his free throws, but he gets to the line more than all but one of his teammates. He also averages 5 rebounds per contest.

 

Tonight will be interesting!

 

CM

It will be good to get back in the booth. I had to miss the Gallatin-SK and Oldham-Collins games last week - the first two Region 8 boys tournament games I have missed since the mid 90s.....:(

 

Pegasus had a crew there led by two of my college sophomore students, but I reaaally missed being there!!!

 

CM

Thanks CM. The AC vs SO will feature IMO the 2 best players in 8th. I’m really not sure which one based on this years performance should be POY.

Not sure who to pick in this one but I will take Oldham to win tonight and tomorrow night. This is the year they get monkey off their back.

BTW CM, your boy the other night was to big of a OC homer for me. Glad you will be back in action.