14th Region Week 3 Review

First and foremost, Knott County Central, 14th region legend and current Breathitt County head coach, Barry “BB” King passed away earlier this week. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family through this very difficult time. 
 

It’s Christmas time which means a short break from basketball action but it was a hot week last week. Let’s see what took place. 
 

1) Hazard (9-2): The Bulldogs won the boys green bracket Smoky Mountain Christmas tournament at Gatlinburg Tennessee. Hazard got things started off with a 69-51 win over Falkner MS. Bulldogs would advance on to the semis where they would take on Notre Dame TN. Bulldogs would have their hands full but would edge out Notre Dame TN 64-58 to move on to the green bracket championship. Hazard would take on Nashville Christian TN. Bulldogs would have another fight on their hands but was able to pull out the 57-51 win. The three wins pushes the Bulldogs win streak to 6 straight. 
 

2) Breathitt County (6-3): The Bobcats traveled down to Dobyns-Bennett (Kingsport) Tennessee for the Alpha Invitational Tournament. The Bobcats played with a lot of heavy heart as their head coach BB King had passed away several days prior. The Bobcats would go 2-1 in the tournament defeating Dobyns-Bennett TN 79-70 and Morgantown WV 84-80 (Morgantown WV was class 4A state champions last year) but would fall in the championship game to Jonesboro GA 67-62. The loss would snap the Bobcats 4 game win streak. 
 

3) Perry County Central (6-6): Perry County Centra stayed in state this week as they traveled to Pikeville for the Pikeville Invitational Tournament. The Commodores didn’t do so well as they lost 2 of their 3 games. They were 3 points away from going 0-3 in the tournament but a 56-54 win over Pike County Central to open up the tournament prevented that. Perth County Central would drop their next two games falling 74-70 to Pikeville and 79-68 to Bracken County. 
 

4) Letcher County Central (8-5): Letcher County Central should be extremely tired this weekend. The traveled to Marion County and played two games in the Autism Classic, defeating both Marion County 57-42 and Bardstown 58-55 then traveled to Gatlinburg TN for 3 more games in the Smoky Mountain Classic. Yellow Bracket. With the wins over Marion County and Bardstown, that would run the Cougars win streak to 5 straight but that would end as they would fall in their first game of the Tennessee tournament falling 52-50 to Travelers Rest SC. The Cougars would face off with a KY team, Corbin and they would still end up with a loss, falling 77-59 to the Red Hounds. LCC would end the tournament with a 7th place finish as they would defeat Northeast (Clarksville) TN 70-59. 

4) Estill County (4-3): The Engineers finish third in the boys blue bracket of the Smoky Mountain Classic at Gatlinburg TN. Engineers got things off to a great start by pulling out a thrilling double overtime win against Landrum SC (per MaxPreps Landrum was 9-1 coming into the game and was ranked 33rd in South Carolina and 4th in their division). Estill County would face familiar foe Mercer County in the semi finals and what a tremendous back and forth game this would be. Estill took the 30-23 halftime lead but Mercer County would reclaim the lead and not look back on their way to defeat the Engineers 58-54. Estill County would go on to face another Kentucky team, Russell County. The Engineers wouldn’t have no issues with the Lakers as they would roll to a 77-59 third place finish.  
 

6) Wolfe County (5-6): The Wolves split 4 games this past week going 2-2. Wolfe County defeated Powell County 66-47. Wolfe County would then head to Montgomery County to participate in the Gateway Holiday Classic. Not a good showing for the Wolves as they would drop their first two games falling 52-37 to Muhlenberg County and 73-61 to Johnson Central. Wolfe County would sneak past Henry County 69-61 for a 7th place finish. 
 

7) Knott County Central (3-7): The Patriots also traveled to Montgomery County for the Gateway Holiday Classic. The Patriots would drop their first two games as well dropping 49-21 to Frederick Douglass and 42-40 to Johnson Central. KCC would edge out Henry County 51-45 in their final game of the tournament. The win would snap a 3 game losing streak. 
 

8 ) Powell County (4-6): Powell County dropped their only game of the week last week falling 66-47 to Wolfe County. 
 

9) Lee County (5-5): The Bobcats have now dropped three straight with both losses last week, both by 24+. Lee County would fall 94-65 to Williamsburg and 94-70 to Menifee County. 
 

10) Buckhorn (6-3): Buckhorn went 1-1 last week defeating Menifee County 71-64 but falling 89-79 Williamsburg in the Hyden Citizens Classic at Leslie County. Buckhorn was suppose to have more games in Hyden Citizens Classic but was canceled due to weather. 
 

11) Leslie County (6-6)

12) Owsley County (2-6) 

13) Jackson City (1-8)

14) Cordia (0-10)

Most teams will participate in post Christmas tournaments this week. Upcoming games will return first week of January.