BluegrassPreps.com 6th Region Week 1 Review

BluegrassPreps.com 6th Region Week 1 Review

Western, Butler and Beth Haven impressed with identical 3-0 starts. Equally impressive Pleasure Ridge Park and surprising North Bullitt also finished the week with unblemished records, both at 2-0. Meanwhile, defending regional champion Jeffersontown and fellow regional tournament finalist Doss both struggled to 0-3 starts. It's difficult to draw any concrete conclusions after a mere handful of games. The sample size is simply too small to make major changes so this week's rankings arrived unchanged from the preseason rankings.

Regional Rankings

1. Western (3-0): The Warriors rolled out the gate with three straight wins. They had one at home vs. Elizabethtown, one on the road at Fairdale and one at a neutral site over Cincinnati Taft at the R.U.N. High School Showcase at Shawnee. Elijah Clinton scored a team-high 20 points in the opener.

2. Evangel Christian (1-1): The Eagles lost 102-100 in an epic overtime thriller at Walton-Verona. Kyran Tilley poured in a team-high 32 points and Christian Doerr added 26 for Evangel. The Eagles turned around and took it out on Graves County with a 21-point rout at the Marshall County Hoopfest. Doerr had 24 points in that one. Cyr Malonga added 20 points and six rebounds.

3. Pleasure Ridge Park (2-0): The Panthers beat Doss by 22 and Jeffersontown by 11, completing an impressive sweep against last season's regional finalists. The Doss victory was their fourth straight season-opening win. PRP has a penchant for starting fast with this group of seniors. Over the previous three seasons, the Panthers started 9-1, 10-2 and 9-2.

4. DeSales (2-2): The busiest team during the opening week with four games on the hardwood. They broke even with wins against Male and Huntington Prep (WV) and losses to Trinity and Ballard. William Gibson scored a team-high 18 in the home opener against Male while Crew Gibson had 10 points and a team-best 14 rebounds.

5. Iroquois (2-1): The Raiders are 2-0 at home. They enjoyed balanced scoring in a 46-point blowout opener against Valley as Alonzo Basemore and Jordan Williamson led with 16 points apiece. Angelo Persley added 15. But Iroquois lost by 10 at Southern before beating Central by just one.

6. Jeffersontown (0-3): Two of the Chargers' losses came in overtime and the greatest losing margin was 11 points so it's not like they're getting blown out during the surprisingly rough start. They lost by four in the opener to Fairdale in overtime even though they got 21 points from Brandon Gatewood. They lost by 10 in OT to Lexington Catholic despite 17 points from Camron McDaniels.

7. Doss (0-3): Tough first week for the Dragons, who received game-high scoring honors of 17 points from Marcus Baker in the opener against Pleasure Ridge Park and KeiShawn Bowman in the second game against Jeffersonville (Ind.).

8. Fern Creek (2-1): The Tigers won the first two with victories against Moore and Valley but ended the week with a loss to St. Xavier. Jaden Johnson and Noah Glover shared top-scoring honors in the opener with 13 points each.

9. Fairdale (1-1): The Bulldogs played them close the first week, winning by four in overtime at Jeffersontown and losing by five at home against Western. That's a stark contrast from last season when the 'Dogs lost to Jeffersontown by 36 and lost to Western by 31 in the first two games. Jacob Tucker scored 22 points and Dalton Hicks added 20 against Jeffersontown. Hicks had 21 against Western while Tucker scored 13.

10. Bullitt East (1-0): The Chargers got a 19-point win at home against John Hardin as Nate Wilson led five double-digit scorers with 20 points. Cooper Harkey notched a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

11. Butler (3-0): The Bears were consistent offensively while posting the hot start. They destroyed Southern, 70-47. They beat Kentucky Country Day, 76-67, and clobbered John Hardin, 75-45. They had a different leading scorer each game. Markel Meriwether scored 16 against Southern. Terry Walker dumped 28 on KCD. Dayton Williams had 20 against John Hardin.

12. Southern (1-2): The Trojans sandwiched a 61-51 win against Iroquois around two losses against Butler and Shawnee.

13. Bullitt Central (0-1): The Cougars lost 60-47 to Grayson County in the opener. Ryan Brown posted team highs of 15 points and nine rebounds.

14. Beth Haven (3-0): The Bearcats manhandled Frankfort Christian at home and Cloverport on the road and won a close one at Indianapolis Horizon Christian. Michael Ray Stinnett scored 24 points and Connor Stinnett added 21 in the opener vs. Frankfort Christian but neither scored in double figures the next two games. Jordan Harris scored 31 against Cloverport and followed up with 15 against Horizon Christian. Harris scored 13 in the opener.

15. Holy Cross (1-1): The Cougars scored 70 points in each of their first two games. But they fell on opposite sides of the ledger. They suffered a close loss in the opener against Waggener despite 28 points from Jacob Hand and 23 from Mike Loftis, but enjoyed a lopsided win against Brown, thanks to 25 points from the hot Hand, averaging 26.5 ppg.

16. Moore (2-1): The Mustangs lost the opener at Fern Creek then won two straight, beating Waggener by 26 at home and Clay County by five at the Legacy Nissan Classic at North Laurel.

17. North Bullitt (2-0): The Eagles enjoyed some good home cooking the first week. Conner Boley scored 26 points and Jaydon Reisser added 21 in the season-opening home win over Louisville Collegiate. Boley had 14 points and 12 rebounds in a home win against Anderson County. Braxton Sievert led the Eagles in that one with 18 points.

18. Valley (0-2): Not a pretty start for the Vikings. Iroquois beat them, 73-27 in the opener. Fern Creek won in a rout, 79-16. Nasir Gordon scored 13 in the opener.

19. Whitefield Academy (1-2): The Wildcats won the opener 60-46 at home against Cornerstone Christian but then dropped the next two on the road.