8th Region Week 5 Review: Titans-Colonels-Dragons Remain 1-2-3

By Colonelmike

 

It was a pretty good week for the 8th Region, which posted a couple of upset wins over ranked opposition from outside the region and fared well otherwise.

 

Both South Oldham and Spencer County claimed victories over the then-18th-ranked Warren Central Dragons, the top-ranked team in region four, and a program that has made it to the Sweet 16 Final Four the past two seasons.

 

The region now owns victories over #2 Male, #8 Madisonville-North Hopkins, #12 North Laurel, and two victories over then- #18 Warren Central, plus victories over teams formerly in the top 20, including Paul Laurence Dunbar, Trinity, and Beechwood.

 

Even in the losses to ranked teams, the 8th Region has been very competitive.

 

Four different Region 8 teams have appeared in the top 20, including Collins (currently #5), Oldham County (currently #17), South Oldham (currently #19), and North Oldham.

 

There were only four games between 8th Region teams last week, and in each case, the higher-ranked team (per this ranking) prevailed. Of interest was the competitiveness of each game; Collins edged Simon Kenton, 63-55; Simon Kenton got past Anderson County, 48-44; Gallatin County held on to beat Carroll County for the second time this year, 64-61; and Henry County defeated district rival Owen County, 56-46.

 

In this week’s Region 8 rankings, the top three from last week remain the top three, but there is some movement in the rankings among 4-5-6. The top 8 or 9 seem to be creating some separation between them and the rest of the region, with a definite group of four teams – primarily District 31 schools – making up a “mid-pack” composed of Gallatin County, Walton-Verona, Carroll County, and Henry County. At least two of those “mid-pack” schools are likely to make the 8th Region tournament, and each has some upside that will make them dangerous.

 

Injuries are beginning to become the talk of the Region, with the fortunes of North Oldham, Simon Kenton, Henry County, and others being impacted by players getting hurt – or by players returning from earlier injuries. In the case of North Oldham, the Mustangs seemed poised to take the #1 ranking in the region a couple of weeks ago when the injury bug snared 8th Region Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball candidate Justin Powell.

 

I didn’t get the opportunity to see any holiday tournaments, but was able to see a lot of basketball this past week, as I watched Spencer - in a couple of games in the South Oldham Classic - South Oldham, North Oldham - and, for the first time this year – I was able to see the Simon Kenton Pioneers in their big matchup with 11th-ranked Fern Creek. This week, I’ll be able to watch a matchup of current/former top 20 teams when Oldham faces Beechwood on Friday, and a big 8th Region tilt on Saturday when Woodford County visits North Oldham.

 

On to the rankings…

 

1 - Collins (12-3) Last week: #1 Bluegrasspreps.com state ranking: #5 Collins is riding a three-game winning streak after going 2-0 last week. The Titans don’t have a bad loss; a 7-point defeat at the hands of #1 ranked Ballard, an 11-point loss to #3 Male, and a 2-point loss to #10-ranked Bourbon County are the only blemishes on their record.

 

But Collins has plenty of solid wins, including a victory over #8-ranked Madisonville-North Hopkins and a big 19-point win over #12 North Laurel.

 

Last week, the Titans got a solid 63-55 win over a fellow 8th Region contender, Simon Kenton, before blasting Madison Central from the 11th Region, 64-44.

 

As usual, it was the Dayvion McKnight – Marcellus Vail show, with Vail leading the way over SK with 21 points, and McKnight leading the charge with 21 points / 11 rebounds against Madison Central.

 

With all the talk about McKnight and Vail, it’s worthwhile to note that Aaron Thompson is #18 in KY – and tops in the 8th Region – in shooting percentage, hitting a whopping 65.9% of his shots from the floor.

 

Caleb Hawley may be turning into an up-and-coming offensive weapon for Collins; the junior is averaging nearly 11 ppg over the last three games, during which time the Titans have gone 3-0.

 

The Titans shot over 60% in both wins. Collins is the region’s best-shooting team, hitting 51.1% of their shots. They’ve been consistent, too, hitting over 50% in 11 of their 15 games.

 

The Titans face a major district challenge this week when they head to Taylorsville.

 

This week: 1/10/2020 at Spencer County

 

2 – Oldham County (11-2) Last week: #2 Bluegrasspreps.com state ranking: #17 Oldham lost in the championship game of the Blue Star Invitational in South Carolina to start last week, falling, 57-43, to The Park School of Buffalo (NY). But the Colonels bounced back, rallying to defeat Paul Laurence Dunbar, 57-50, before defeating Paintsville, 79-66.

 

Deaton Oak led the way against Dunbar, with 17 points; Sam Campbell had 25 to lead the Colonels over Paintsville. Oldham continues to have a wealth of scorers; four different players – Oak, Campbell, Xander Wagner-Rose, and Tyler Slone – have led the team in scoring in at least two games this year.

 

Like Collins, Oldham is shooting the ball well. The Colonels hit 56.9% of their shots against Paintsville; Oldham is hitting 49% from the floor on the season, including 40.5% from beyond the arc and 72% at the line.

 

As a team, the Colonels are #2 in the region in scoring (71.6 ppg) and #2 in scoring defense (54.6 ppg), a dangerous combination. And with four players scoring in double figures, led by Oak’s 14.1 ppg, Oldham is a hard team to guard.

 

Hard to penalize Oldham County too much in the rankings for the loss to the New York team since I was unable to dredge up much in the way of reliable information on The Park School of Buffalo. Therefore, the Colonels remain at #2 this week.

 

The Colonels have a reasonably challenging week ahead, facing an 11-win North Bullitt team on the road that just beat Iroquois by 25 points, hosting a Beechwood Tigers team that began the year ranked in the top 20, and wrapping up the week against head coach Coy Zerhusen’s alma mater, the Scott County Cardinals at home in Buckner.

 

This week: 1/7/2020 at North Bullitt 1/10/2020 vs Beechwood 1/11/2020 vs. Scott County

 

3 – South Oldham (12-4) Last week: #3 Bluegrasspreps.com state ranking: #19 The Dragons have returned to “Steve Simpson basketball”, and the region is on notice.

 

Not that the Dragons ever really left their fast-paced, three-point shooting, multiple-defense philosophy – they’re just “re-emphasizing” it. The result has been two wins in the prestigious King of the Bluegrass Tournament, a runner-up finish in the Henry County Invitational, and an upset win over the previously 18th-ranked Warren Central Dragons last week.

 

After a slow – by South standards – start to the season shooting the perimeter shot, the Dragons have been on fire of late from beyond the arc. In the last ten games, South has hit 116 of 233 threes for an incredible 49.8%. They’ve hit 11 or more threes in 7 of those 10 games, including 19 against Ryle in the semi-finals of the HCIT. The fewest threes the Dragons have made in a game during that stretch was 8 against Bardstown.

 

South now leads the state (again) in three point makes on the season. And – after leading the state in scoring last year – the Dragons sit at #8 in the state in scoring this year at 75.9 ppg.

 

South won all three games they played last week and have now won 5 of their last 6, making them one of the hottest teams in the region. The Dragons easily defeated Holmes in round 1 of the South Oldham Classic, 82-65, then followed that with the upset victory over then-#18 Warren Central, 72-68. South wrapped up three wins in as many days by defeating Bullitt East, 87-74.

 

Given the grueling, tournament-style nature of the South Oldham Classic – three games in three days – the Dragons’ shooting was particularly impressive. South shot 43% against Holmes, but then hit 62.2% of their shots against Warren Central and 54% against Bullitt East. The Dragons hit 11 threes in each of the three contests.

 

Seth Johnson set the tone for the first two nights, scoring 52 combined points; Luke Morrison capped off the Classic with a 33-point outing against Bullitt East. South got good support; a different player stepped up to join the “big 2” in double figures each night. Ben Michel had 11 in the first game; Tim Stragand had 17 against Warren Central; Nick Cranfill scored 11 against the Chargers on the final night.

 

South has two players who will be reaching milestones in the next game or two; Luke Morrison is less than 100 points away from passing Brad Cofer as the school’s all-time leading scorer, and Seth Johnson is less than 100 points away from reaching 1,000 career points.

 

This week, South has just one game, but it could be a real challenge as the Dragons travel to Iroquois.

 

This week: 1/10/2020 at Iroquois

 

4 – Spencer County (9-4) Last week: #5 Spencer County moves up one spot after a strong – and gritty – performance in the South Oldham Classic last week.

 

The Bears went 2-1 in the Classic, falling in the opening game by just six points to Fourth Region powerhouse Bowling Green, 65-59. Spencer star Sam Conley tallied 30 points to kick off what would be a strong Classic performance as he scored 20 points or more in all three games, averaging 25 ppg, raising his average to 21.9 ppg on the season.

 

Spencer followed that effort up by winning their next two games. I thought the Bears looked tired in their second game, an opinion that was echoed by other coaches in attendance, but it didn’t matter as Spencer County slammed an outgunned Holmes squad, 70-53.

 

The Bears saved their best for last, as they upended then-#18 Warren Central in their final game, 71-70, in overtime. Conley had 20 points, Lucas Hornback 19, and Gage Mabry 17 to lead Spencer.

 

The Bears have now won 7 of 8 games.

 

Spencer’s scoring defense (59.9 ppg) is fourth-best in the Eighth Region; three opponents have failed to reach 50 against the Bears… Sam Conley is now the number three scorer in the 8th Region…

 

If there’s a concern in the Taylorsville camp, it has to be the shooting percentages. Spencer opened the season by shooting 52.5% against the Franklin County Flyers, but the Bears haven’t shot over 50% in a game since, and sit at just 41.5% on the season.

 

This week includes the Bears’ first big district matchup as they face #5 Collins…

 

1/7/2020 – at Nelson County 1/10/2020 vs. #5 Collins

 

5 – Simon Kenton (8-5) Last week: #6 – The Pioneers went 1-2 last week, but move up a spot as North Oldham slides a bit this week.

 

The good news for SK last week was that they got three straight games from junior guard Kelly Niece. Kelly, second on the team in scoring at 14.7 ppg, is still working his way back to 100% after a knee injury last year, and Trent Steiner is taking it slowly with his star guard. In watching Niece at the Champions of Kentucky Hoopfest at North Oldham HS, it’s clear that Niece isn’t quite back to where he wants to be, but it was good to see him still aggressively taking the ball strong to the basket.

 

SK opened last week with a loss, falling in a close game to #5 Collins, 63-55. The Pioneers hit 53.7% against the powerful Collins defense, led by their talented guard duo of Niece and Jeremy Davis. Niece had 14 in the game and Davis 12 (four three pointers).

 

Simon Kenton bounced back to get a 48-44 victory over the Anderson County Bearcats, handing Anderson only their second loss of the season. Logan Schwartz had 16 to lead the way for SK, but added to the SK injury list when he hurt his ankle in the game.

 

Schwartz sat out the Pioneers’ game against #11 Fern Creek at the Champions of Kentucky Hoopfest. The Pioneers battled the more athletic Tigers strong for a half, leading by one point at intermission, before falling, 66-52. SK failed to score over the final 2:10 of the ballgame.

 

SK’s record may not be as shiny as some other 8th Region powers, but in their first 13 games, the Pioneers have victories over Beechwood (by 15), Paul Dunbar (by 1), Bardstown (by 8), and Anderson County (by 4). They have been very competitive in losses to #8 Madisonville-North Hopkins (by 5) and #5 Collins (by 8), and they battled #11 Fern Creek close for 3 ½ quarters before fading late without their leading scorer Logan Schwartz.

 

Jeremy Davis is one of the state’s early leaders in three point shooting; he is fourth in the state in makes (3.9 / game) and is hitting 46.5% from beyond the arc (6th in the state).

 

Defensively, the Pioneers are the third-best scoring defense in the region, allowing just 57.2 ppg.

 

This week:

1/7/2020 vs. Conner 1/10/2020 vs. Covington Holy Cross

 

6 – North Oldham (7-6) Last week: #4 The Mustangs still have the core of what could be an extremely good team by, but at the moment, the team is struggling with injuries. Largely as a result of that, the Mustangs fall two spots this week.

 

Five games ago, with the Mustangs riding high at 6-2 and fresh off a runner-up finish in the King of the Bluegrass Tournament, star guard Justin Powell suffered a groin injury in the fourth quarter of a close game against Frederick Douglas. The Mustangs went on to lose that game, 74-70, and haven’t quite been the same since, losing 3 of their last 4 games.

 

During that stretch, the Mustangs have lost twice to Paul Dunbar by 10 points, fell to Madison Central by 10, and manhandled a team from Florida – Bradford – by 18. All told, North has now lost 4 of their last 5 games, although the schedule has been pretty brutal.

 

Since Powell went out, senior backup Nick Kokoskie injured his knee in pregame warmups and is lost for the year, and senior guard Luke Barry has been temporarily lost to a pinched nerve as the Mustang trainer has been kept busy.

 

On the bright side, the Mustangs continue to get amazing play from their two primary interior players, brothers Tyler (senior) and Ian (freshman) Higdon. Tyler had 25 points against Bradford and 28 against Paul Dunbar in the Champions of Kentucky Hoopfest, and has rapidly asserted his claim to being one of the best post men in the 8th Region. Tyler is #2 in the region in field goal percentage at 64.4% and is averaging 13.8 ppg and 8.9 rebounds (#2 in the region in rebounding).

 

Freshman Dallas Roberts, the Mustangs’ leading scorer last year as an 8th grader, is stepping up his offensive game to help replace Powell’s lost 22.2 ppg average; Roberts is averaging over 10 ppg, but scored 14 against Bradford and 17 against Paul Dunbar in the last two contests. Roberts, who is on pace to break his coach’s record for most points scored at North Oldham, had four threes in the PLD game.

 

Roberts is also the 8th Region’s top free throw shooter, at 85.3%.

 

A positive sign for North is the free throw shooting. This was a decided problem for the Mustangs early in the season, but it was notable to see North hit 19 of 26 against Bradford (73.1%) and 16 of 20 (80%) against PLD. Tyler Higdon, in particular, has shown remarkable improvement. Though his season average is still just 53.6%, the senior hit 9 of 12 against Bradford and 4 of 5 against PLD. With the mobile center getting fouled a lot, his free throw shooting had to come up if North was to make a deep run.

 

North Oldham is still a very dangerous team without Powell. The jury is still out on his return; either way, the Mustangs have time to make the required adjustments.

This week looms big. Number two ranked Male gets a chance at revenge after losing to North in the King of the Bluegrass.

 

1/7/2020 – at #2 Male

 

7 – Woodford County (7-6) Last week: #7 The week went largely as expected for the Yellowjackets last week, as they defeated Nelson County, 61-53, and lost to undefeated #6 Ashland, 49-68.

 

According to some who attended the Ashland game, this was a much closer game than the score indicates.

 

The loss to Ashland brought the region’s longest winning streak to a close; the Jackets have now won 6 of their last 7 games, though, to remain one of the region’s hottest teams.

 

Woodford has been competitive against ranked teams; they own a six point win over #17 Oldham County, with a loss to Ashland. They faced two other teams that were ranked at the time of the game, winning by 16 over Paul Dunbar and falling to Frederick Douglass.

 

At 53.7%, the Yellowjackets are one of the region’s best-shooting teams, and – while the three point shot isn’t really a major part of their offense (they take about 11 threes a game), they are efficient beyond the arc, hitting a strong 47.9%. Oddly, the Jackets are below average at the line, hitting just 62.2% on the season.

 

Hunter Penn continues to lead the Jackets and is a threat to finish the year averaging a double-double; for now, he averages 16.4 ppg and 8.7 rebounds.

 

With Woodford joining the region this year, and under a first-year coach, I don’t know as much about the Yellowjackets from personal observation. I’ll remedy that some this Saturday when I watch Woodford face North Oldham.

 

This week: 1/7/2020 at Tates Creek 1/10/2020 vs. Estill County 1/11/2020 at North Oldham

 

8 – Anderson County (11-2) Last week: #8 Anderson holds strong at #8 this week after a light week in which they played just one game, falling in a heartbreaker to Simon Kenton, 48-44. The Bearcats had played a very light schedule to date, so this was an opportunity to prove they belonged with the top regional contenders. And, while Anderson lost the game, the Bearcats certainly proved they can play with the higher-ranked teams.

 

Anderson’s defense once again proved to be a tall task for the opposition as SK managed just 48 points. It was the second-fewest points SK had scored in a game all year.

 

Allowing just 42.7 points per game, Anderson is not only the top scoring defense in the 8th Region, they are the top scoring defense in the state.

 

Unfortunately, the Bearcats’ offense is struggling to take advantage. Against what has been a relatively light schedule so far, the Cats have managed to score enough to amass an 11-2 record – tied with Oldham County for fewest losses in the region. But the Bearcat attack is managing just 52.4 points per game, only 16th-best in the 18-team region. Whether the Anderson defense can make that kind of point production stand up against the likes of North Oldham, #5 Collins, #17 Oldham County, Somerset, and Spencer County – all lurking in the schedule ahead – remains to be seen.

 

Anderson would get a big boost if Tyler Rice is able to return to form. The senior guard averaged 11 ppg last season and was expected to be an all-region caliber scorer this year. But Rice, hampered by injuries early, has never been able to “fire” yet, and is averaging just 6.7 ppg. He may ultimately prove to be Anderson’s “ace in the hole”.

 

Promising for Anderson County is the contributions of so many players….Hunter Rutherford leads the team in scoring at 12.1 ppg…Jagger Gillis is close to a double-double, averaging 10.6 ppg and 8.6 rebounds…Alex Carpenter has already hit 24 threes on the year at a 46.2% clip.

 

This week: 1/10/2020 at Shelby County 1/11/2020 vs. Powell County

 

9 – Grant County (8-5) Last week: #9 Grant County had a strong week last week as they started the new year, going 3-0. They wrapped up their visit to Phoenix in the Cactus Jam by defeating Bainbridge (WA), 62-45, before beating Dixie Heights, 73-64, and Breathitt County, 68-59, to move to 8-5 on the season.

 

In each of the three games last week, Grant had a different leading scorer. Blake Robinson led the way against Bainbridge, with 22 points. Jack Epperson had a double-double in the win over Dixie, with 25 points and 10 boards. And Ben Vickers showed he’s fully back to form with a 26 point outing against Breathitt.

 

Grant County now holds the region’s longest winning streak at four in a row

 

The Braves are continuing as one of the region’s top scoring teams, clicking in at 67.9 ppg, but Grant hopes that the last four games may be indicative of what is to come defensively. In the last four contests, Grant County has surrendered just 53 ppg, and given up less than 50 points twice. Last year, the Braves struggled to stop anyone last year, allowing over 65 ppg. This year, that number has dropped to 60.7 ppg, the sixth-best scoring defense in the region.

 

Another cause for optimism – the Braves are starting to see the benefits of their “youth movement.” Freshmen Dylan Hammonds and Mason Guffey – optimistically expected to make contributions this year for a team that would have been a little thin without them – have come through at the varsity level. Hammonds had 10 against Bainbridge; Guffey scored 12 against Breathitt. Both are averaging just over 6 points a game. Hammonds is shooting 61.8% from the floor; Guffey is tied for the team lead in made threes with 23, while hitting a solid 39.7% from beyond the arc.

 

Grant has a light load this week, but the four game winning streak will definitely be tested by the Beechwood Tigers, who started the year ranked in the top 20.

 

This week: 1/8/2020 vs. Beechwood

 

10 – Gallatin County (6-6) Last week: #10 Gallatin played just once last week, but they made it count, in a tight, 64-61 victory over 31st district rival Carroll County. With a 5-0 district mark, the Wildcats are sitting pretty as they seek to wrap up the district #1 seed yet again.

 

Jarin Rassman again led the way last week, with a 22 points, 7 rebound effort. Gage Ashcraft had 13 and Logan Riddle added 12 for the Wildcats.

 

Ashcraft and Riddle have looked solid of late; Ashcraft is averaging 13.3 ppg over the last three games, raising his season average to 10.2. Riddle, who is averaging just 2.4 ppg, has scored 20 points in the last two games to average 10 points per contest during that span.

 

Combined with Rassman, Zach Johnson, Devin McAlister, Hayden Dickerson, and Noah St. Clair, the Wildcats have an array of scorers that can lead the team on any given night. In fact, in the last four games, four different Cats have led Gallatin in scoring (Rassman, Ashcraft, St. Clair, and Dickerson).

 

This isn’t the Gallatin County we’ve seen over the past few years, though….the Wildcats are only so-so beyond the arc at 30.7% - they were 3 of 20 against Carroll County – and only 58.5% at the line. Both have been Gallatin County strong suits of late. But Jon Jones-coached teams rarely beat themselves, and through simple hard work, this year’s squad has once again stamped itself as the team to beat in the 31st District.

 

This week: 1/7/2020 vs. Walton-Verona at Williamstown in the 8th Region All-A

 

11 – Walton-Verona (6-6) Last Week: #11 Mike Hester’s squad – the #4 scoring team in the 8th Region – continues to put up points, but it wasn’t enough this past week as the Bearcats dropped two.

 

Holmes beat W-V, 78-72, to start the week, and Covington Holy Cross defeated the Cats, 90-76, to end it. Walton shot over 50% in both games, hit 21 combined threes, and shot over 80% at the line in both contests, and still came up short as the defense simply couldn’t keep up.

 

Cameron Christy had 21 points to lead the Bearcats against Holmes; Brant Smithers scored 26 against Holy Cross.

 

Walton has been putting up points all season, but they’ve really raised the ante in the last four games, averaging 78.3 ppg during that span and going 2-2.

 

This week: 1/7/2020 Gallatin County in the All-A 1/11/2020 at Mason County

 

12 – Carroll County (6-5) Last week: #12 Carroll missed a big opportunity last week, but fell, 64-61, to the defending District 31 champions, the Gallatin County Wildcats in a game that all but sealed the district #1 seed for Gallatin.

 

Wyatt Supplee led Carroll with 25 points; Keyshaun Mumphrey added another double-double, with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

 

Supplee and Mumphrey are quite the dynamic duo. Supplee is the #1 scorer in the state of Kentucky now, averaging 30 ppg while hitting 54.9% of his shots. Mumphrey leads the region in rebounding, averaging 10.5 boards a game (also good for #14 in the state).

 

This week: 1/9/2020 8th Region All-A

 

13 – Henry County (4-7) Last Week: #14 With Trevor Hardin back on the active roster, hope has returned to New Castle, where the Wildcats have won two of their last three games. Henry moves up one spot this week in the rankings.

 

Last week, Henry County took care of business against district rival Owen County, defeating the Rebels, 56-46. The win put Henry at 2-2 on the season in district seeding games and kept them in the hunt for a “2” or “3” seed – and possibly an outside shot at the “1” seed.

 

With district seeing games remaining against Gallatin County, Carroll County, and Eminence (two games), Henry controls its destiny in regards to claiming the “2” seed, and can still catch Gallatin for the top seed with a little help.

 

Henry’s two-game winning streak ended at the hands of Ludlow, who defeated the Wildcats, 63-55.

 

Ethan Lankford is #3 in the region in scoring at 21.7 ppg.

 

This week: 1/8/2020 Western Hills (2A Champinships Sectional Tournament)

 

14 – Shelby County (3-10) Last week: #13 Shelby County continues to struggle; the Rockets have lost three in a row and 9 of their last 10.

 

Shelby played just one game last week, and fell by 44 points to Iroquois, 79-35. It was the fifth time in 13 games that the Rockets failed to reach 50 points this season. Nobody reached double figures and the Rockets were able to shoot just 31.8% from the floor and 55.6% at the line.

 

With a brutal schedule upcoming that includes #5 Collins, #17 Oldham County, #19 South Oldham, 10-win Logan County, Spencer County, North Oldham, and #10 Bourbon County, it’s easy to see a scenario whereby Shelby County might not reach 10 wins for the fourth consecutive season.

 

This week: 1/7/2020 vs. Atherton 1/10/2020 vs. Anderson County 1/11/2020 vs. Logan County at Russell County (Kay Morris Classic)

 

15 – Trimble County (2-11) Last week: #15 – Trimble played just once last week, falling to Bethlehem, 81-70 in the Williamstown Holiday Classic.

 

The Riaders were led by Reece Webster, who seems to be fully recovered from his broken hand, suffered before the season started. Webster had 28 points in the loss, his season high.

 

But the loss marked the Raiders’ ninth loss in a row, the region’s longest current losing streak. Trimble’s last win came on December 10th, when they defeated Owen County, 50-48, in Bedford.

 

Trimble County’s scoring average of 50.4 points per game is the lowest in the 8th Region.

 

This week: No games

 

16 – Owen County (3-9) Last week: #17 Owen moves up one this week, although they lost their only game last week, 56-46, at the hands of Henry County. Isaac Wash had 20 points and 8 rebounds for the Rebels; freshman Teagan Moore had 15. Brandon Lewis added 9. Owen shot just 39.5% from the floor as they lost their third straight.

 

There is, however, grounds for optimism in Owenton. The “youth movement” has this team showing potential. Moore – despite his youth – is the #4 scorer in the 8th Region at 20.7 ppg, which also ranks him in the top 50 in Kentucky. Sophomore Isaac Wash is averaging 14.1 ppg.

 

And although the wins have been few, one stands out. The Rebels defeated Russell County, 52-43, on December 27th. Russell County defeated Greenwood, who defeated Bowling Green and South Warren – two of the better Fourth Region teams. That’s not to say that Owen County is good enough now to contend if they were in the Fourth Region – but it does point out that the Rebels are starting to put together some competitive games, despite their youth, against better quality teams.

 

Owen’s biggest challenge, which will improve as this young team matures, is their offense. Averaging just 52 ppg, Owen ranks 17th of 18 in scoring offense in Region 8.

 

This week: 1/8/2020 vs. Christian Academy of Louisville in the 2A Championships Sectional Tournament 1/10/2020 at Frankfort Christian

 

17 – Williamstown (4-6) Last week: #16 The Demons fall one this week, after dropping two games last week.

 

Williamstown fell last week to Berea, 78-53, before losing to Bishop Brossart, 73-46 to fall to 4-6 on the season. A good showing against an 11-win Brossart team would have been a huge confidence-booster for the Demons; to date, Williamstown’s four wins have come against four teams with a combined ten wins on the season.

 

This week: 1/7/2020 vs. Eminence

 

18 - Eminence (3-11) Last week: #18 Eminence did not play last week.

This week: 1/7/2020 at Williamstown

Great work @ColonelMike

District Rankings:

 

District 29 Region Rank State Rank

Oldham County 2 17

South Oldham 3 19

North Oldham 6

Trimble County 15

 

District 30

Collins 1 5

Spencer County 4

Woodford County 7

Anderson County 8

Shelby County 14

 

District 31

Gallatin County 10

Carroll County 12

Henry County 13

Owen County 16

Eminence 18

 

District 32

Simon Kenton 5

Grant County 9

Walton-Verona 11

Williamstown 16

Note: Some schools posted revised stats after I had started the above ranking...as a result, there is an inconsistency in the Collins and Woodford write-ups. The Collins write-up states that Collins - at 51+% - is the top field goal shooting team in the region.

 

The Woodford write-up states that - at 53.7% - Woodford is "one of the better shooting" teams in the region.

 

My apologies for the error. This occurred because Woodford posted a number of game stats after I had written up nearly all of this week's rankings. After I added the note about the Jackets' strong shooting, I forgot to check to see if it contradicted anything else I had already written.

 

I also found a typo; per the stats available to me, Sam Conley is the #2 (not #3) scorer in the 8th Region right now, trailing only Wyatt Supplee of Carroll County.

 

Oops!

 

CM

Bump.

All-A progressing...

 

...Gallatin County earned a revenge win with a 3-point victory over Walton-Verona. The Wildcats will play Carroll County (for the third time this year; Gallatin won the first two in close games) in one semi-final tonight at 6 pm at Williamstown.

 

Trimble County plays Williamstown in the second semi-final.

 

Championship is Friday at 8 pm.

 

In 2A...Henry County fell to Western Hills, 72-50, a team the Wildcats had beaten by one earlier in the year. Owen County was bounced by CAL, 89-57.

Do you know if Hardin played for Henry County last night? I expect not given the margin of defeat.

Do you know if Hardin played for Henry County last night? I expect not given the margin of defeat.

 

I was wondering the same thing. If he played and Western Hills won by that many I would be surprised.

The stats weren't posted the last I checked....the margin of victory was certainly a surprise.

Per the Frankfort State Journal website, Hardin had 31 points for Henry County. Western Hills let by 6 going into the 4th quarter.

C-J's David Kim tweeted - North Oldhams's Justin Powell out indefinitely. MRI proves groin injury he's been playing through was aggrivated in last year's Douglass game.