BluegrassPreps.com 6th Region Week 2 Review
 

Two weeks of basketball has pared the list of unbeatens to one: Pleasure Ridge Park. The senior-laden Panthers have jumped out to a 4-0 start behind power forward Keith Robinson, one of nine seniors on the roster. It's not quite enough to jump ahead of Evangel Christian and Western at the top of the rankings but stay tuned. Evangel Christian put together an unbeaten week of action while Western for the most part was demolishing overmatched opponents, although the Warriors did lose to unbeaten Warren Central in the closest contest yet for the Dragons. Elsewhere for Western, Ondre Wicks outscored Valley all by his lonesome with 24 points in a 100-point victory. Also on an individual note, junior swingman Jacob Hand continued to light it up for Holy Cross with three more 20-point efforts. He averaged 26 points per game on 63 percent shooting (27-for-43) from the field. The top six in the rankings remain the same but there is movement among the next six as solid opening performances by Fern Creek, Fairdale and newly top-10 Butler slid them past struggling Doss, which dropped from seventh to 10th. Butler jumped from 11th to ninth on the strength of a region-best five-game winning streak.

Regional Rankings

1. Western (5-1): The Warriors put together a 2-1 week while extending their season-opening winning streak to four straight games before closing the week with a loss. Ondre Wicks scored a game-high 24 points in a 120-20 dismantling of Valley. Wicks made eight field goals and eight free throws. Valley as a team made nine field goals and no free throws. Elijah Clinton led the team with 17 points and six rebounds in a 31-point win over Iroquois. They ended the week with a seven-point loss to Warren Central at the Kentucky Straight Apparel Classic in Bardstown despite a team-best 17 points from Josiah Lawson.

2. Evangel Christian (4-1): The Eagles soared to a 3-0 week, pushing their winning streak to four straight games. They did it with double-digit victories against Greenwood, Southern and vs. Lincoln County at the Kentucky Straight Apparel Classic in Bardstown. Cyr Malonga scored a team-high 19 points and grabbed a team-best 13 rebounds in the 21-point road win over Greenwood.

3. Pleasure Ridge Park (4-0): Another 2-0 week for the Panthers, with convincing wins against Louisville Holy Cross and Valley. Keith Robinson was a force against Holy Cross with team-high totals of 20 points and nine rebounds while Malachi Hamilton and Gregory Cole scored 19 points each. Robinson is averaging nearly 24 points and nine rebounds per game.

4. DeSales (4-3): The Colts finished the week with a record of 2-1 with easy wins against Thomas Nelson and Simon Kenton and a narrow overtime loss to Moravian Prep (NC) at the Kentucky Play-By-Play Classic in Louisville. Crew Gibson registered team highs of 18 points and seven rebounds against Thomas Nelson.

5. Iroquois (3-2): Iroquois went 1-1 last week in a pair of lopsided contests with a 36-point win at home vs. Portland Christian and a 31-point loss at Western. Jamir Ford was the driving force in the win with 25 points and 12 rebounds, both team highs.

6. Jeffersontown (2-4): The defending regional tournament champs finally got off the schneid with wins against Doss and Central before dropping one to Highlands. Genesis Nimely was a timely revelation in the regional final rematch against Doss with team-best totals of 25 points and eight rebounds. Brandon Gatewood led four players in double figures with 16 points against Central.

7. Fern Creek (4-1): The Tigers won both games on the week, beating Southern and Trinity at home. Jamal Chambers led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds against Southern.

8. Fairdale (3-1): Fairdale won both games by double digits last week, beating Beth Haven at home and Greenwood at Barren County's Don Franklin Barren Hoops Classic. Cameron Croney scored a team-high 22 points on 9-for-13 shooting against Beth Haven. Dalton Hicks went off for 29 points against Greenwood. Hicks is averaging 20.2 ppg.

9. Butler (5-1): The Bears had their season-opening five-game winning streak snapped by Seneca, 68-65, at St. Xavier's Donate Life Classic. Dayton Williams posted team highs of 14 points and eight rebounds in a 58-45 home win against Male.

10. Doss (0-6): The winless Dragons aren't breathing much fire, suffering a second straight 0-3 week. The returning regional tournament finalist nearly got its first win but fell 63-62 to a solid 4-1 Lexington Catholic squad at the Henry County Invitational Tournament.

11. Beth Haven (4-1): The Bearcats split two games, beating Fort Knox for their fourth straight win before losing to Fairdale. Jordan Harris scored 22 points against Fort Knox. He scored 17 against Fairdale.

12. Holy Cross (3-2): Went 2-1 for the week with back-to-back wins over WEB DuBois and North Bullitt after losing to Pleasure Ridge Park. Jacob Hand poured in 33 points against WEB DuBois. Hand had 21 against North Bullitt. He scored 24 against PRP and is averaging 26.2 ppg on the season.

13. Bullitt East (1-3): The Chargers dropped all three games last week while being competitive against Spencer County in a double overtime home loss and St. Xavier in an eight-point road loss.

14. Bullitt Central (1-2): The Cougars broke even for the week, losing to Shelby County and beating North Bullitt on the road. They play their home opener Monday night against Atherton.

15. Moore (2-2): Lost its only game of the week 77-52 against Frederick Douglass at the Billy Hicks Classic in Georgetown. Dayvone Harrison was the lone double-digit scorer with 10 points.
 

16. North Bullitt (2-3): Followed up an unbeaten week with a winless week, losing all three games by double digits, to boot. Conner Boley posted team highs of 22 points and seven rebounds in a 34-point loss at Spencer County to begin the week.

17. Southern (1-4): Went 0-2 for the week with bad road losses against Fern Creek and Evangel Christian.

18. Valley (0-5): Lost badly in all three games, the 120-20 home loss to Western proving especially dispiriting.

19. Whitefield Academy (1-3): Lost its only game of the week, 68-62, at home against Heritage Academy.

No offense but what would make you rank Iroquois over many teams below then. Hard to understand?  Butler behind them?

Hey, thanks for reading that and responding. I appreciate it. I hope you can understand why I don't want to set a precedent by defending my rankings, which are sure to be imperfect to some because of the subjective nature of the content, especially here in the early going. I am receiving input from some coaches in the region as I make my rankings but that doesn't mean the coaches are right. However, I do welcome comments and opinions on anything I write so please offer your alternative rankings so I can be a little more aware of how other folks are thinking! I'm interested in knowing where you would place Iroquois. I'm also curious why you're not so high on Iroquois, a team that returned three solid starters and a bunch of talented sophomores. Much obliged for your input.

Thanks for all your efforts. Always a fun convo. In the case of Butler vs Iroquois- butler has played a much tougher schedule, and beat southern by 20 while Iroquois lost to Southern by 10. Both teams lost talent from last year but butler has more proven talent back. I’d think Iroquois would be bottom half- although their record might be better because first half of season schedule is light. I’d expect Bullitt East to move up as well since their football kids are back. 

I wouldn’t consider Desales win over Simon Kenton necessarily easy. It was a 6-8 point deficit most of the game but Desales pulled away at the end. But great job on the review I enjoy reading them every week.