Two pretty exciting games at the CFSB Center on Friday night.  I wanted to provide a quick preview.  I'm not sure I will be able to provide a preview of the finals on Saturday afternoon as I have to run kids all around town on Saturday.  But here's my semifinal preview:

 McCracken County vs Mayfield - Friday at 6 - A nice and unexpected win for the Cardinals over Calloway County on Monday!  Calloway relies a lot on the three-point shot, and they were not falling that night (credit to the Mayfield defense).  Mayfield seems to be peaking at the right time, but it will be a much taller task on Friday night.  I think the Mustangs are a considerable favorite, and one interesting thing will be to see if Ian Hart gives it a go (I have not yet heard anything on this).  Even without Hart, the Mustangs have lots of firepower led by Center Jack McCune and Guard Brant Brower (Region 1 Player of the Year).  I think the Cardinals can keep this one close for a couple quarters, but ultimately the Mustangs will pull away.

Murray vs Paducah Tilghman - Friday at 7:30 - I really expect this to be a good one.  If you can make it to the CFSB Center for this one - I don't think you'll be disappointed.  Earlier in the season Murray went to Otis Dinning, and pulled out the 62-55 win. However, PT was without their leading scorer, Jayvion Powell, who scores 17 points per game.  He has been very hot as of late.  There are some other personnel notes to this game - Tilghman's defensive stopper (Jequan Warren) was out during the district tournament, but could be available Friday night.  He is one of the best defenders in the 1st Region.  On the Murray side - Mason Grant was playing for Graves until January, and is now a key contributor for the Tigers.

The contrast in this game is that Tilghman is the quicker team that relies a lot on creating defensive havoc while Murray has a size advantage and a little better shooting.  I think this game comes down to which team gets the style that they want.  I'm going to call this one a toss up.

What an awesome time of year!

 

Tilghman and Murray should be a down to the last possession type game, but we'll see. Good matchups all over the floor. No surprise either way whoever wins. 

I think McCracken's defense will just wear Mayfield down and they should win fairly comfortably.