BluegrassPreps.com 3rd Region Tournament preview

Meade County (11-16) vs Mclean County (19-10) - Mclean County won the early season meeting between these two by 16.  Mclean is led by a nice guard/forward combination of Jaxon Floyd and Brady Dame.  Both players are scoring right at 14 points per contest.  Most of success that Meade has had this season has came inside the 11th district where they scored 8 of their 11 wins.  Mclean County hangs their hat on playing tough defense and winning the rebounding battle.  Expect this to be a tough, hard fought opener.  PREDICTION: Mclean over Meade

Owensboro (21-7) vs Whitesville Trinity (16-15) - As far as draw's go, the Raiders could not have gotten a worse one.  Owensboro's speed is a horrible match-up for Trinity.  Landon Huff and Nathan Hernandez will give the Raiders a punchers chance, but it is hard to see a path for a Raiders upset here.  Kenyatta Carbon has been unstoppable in the postseason and brings a 21 points per game average into the tournament.  Amari Robinson Wales is the 2nd leading scorer in the region, to only Carbon.  PREDICTION: Owensboro over Trinity

Muhlenberg County (15-11) vs Owensboro Catholic (17-12) - This is, by far, the best game of the first round.  A rematch of last years regional championship, expect this one to bring a tremendous crowd into the Owensboro Sportscenter.  Muhlenberg will bring a tremendous team effort, led by Cole Vincent and Trey Lovell.  The Mustangs are one of the best defensive teams in the tournament.  Owensboro Catholic comes in featuring two first team all region locks in Ji Webb at nearly 20 points per game and Brian Griffith at 18 points per game.  The Aces fought hard for a tough road win over Muhlenberg a little over 2 weeks ago.  In that one, they were without the services of Parker Gray and Ji Webb.  Expect this game to look much different with everything on the line.  Not only is this a great match-up from a players perspective, it's a great coaching match-up as well.  Tim Riley vs Kyle Eades will also factor into this one.  This should be a tremendous high school basketball game.  PREDICTION: Owensboro Catholic over Muhlenberg County

Grayson County (14-14) vs Hancock County (14-16) - These two teams did not meet during the regular season.  Both teams come in hot.  Grayson County showed a ton of toughness in battling back from double digit deficits in both district tournament games.  Hancock County had won 7 straight games before losing in the district title game to Meade County.  This game is going to come down to which teams star players show up and have the best game on the regional stage.  Grayson County is led by River Blanton's 14 points per game while Hancock's Kaleb Keown is a top 5 scorer at 15 points per game and the region's top rebounder at 9 boards per game.  PREDICTION: Grayson County over Hancock County