12th Region Tournament Wrap Up

Congratulations to the Pulaski County Maroons on surviving and advancing out of what is most certainly one of the most challenging regions top to bottom in the state. Let's look at how the regional tournament culminated and the road Pulaski has in front of them. 

Semifinal 1 - Lincoln County 55, West Jessamine 44. The hosting Patriots owned this game from start to finish, dictating tempo and keeping the Colts out of sorts offensively all night. Colton Ralston was definitely the star of the game with 17 points and 9 boards. The Patriots ended up with just 1 rebound shy of West Jessamine's rebounding total, getting 21 to the Colts 22. That number could have been much more lopsided in favor of West looking at the game on paper but the Patriots held their own physically. The Colts definitely can say they had a successful year, especially the second half of the season, but they did not play up to their potential facing elimination against Lincoln County.

Semifinal 2 - Pulaski County 44, McCreary County Central 41. Kyle Stephens put the Raiders of McCreary Central on his back once again scoring 23 points and accounting for more than half of the team total but ultimately he could not drag them across the finish line. Carson Fraley led the Maroon effort with 16 as Pulaski showed off their winning recipe of offensive production out of their three headed monster of Carson Fraley, Barek Williams and Cayden Lancaster, keeping their starting 5 on the court as much as humanly possible and playing a methodical style of ball that puts a dramatic sense of importance on each possession.

Finals - Pulaski County 57, Lincoln 50. Between January 1st and the end of the district tournament, Pulaski won just one game where they scored under 70. They did it three times in the regional tournament. Given the lack of depth beyond their top 3, the game plans Coach Fraley rolled out certainly played a part in conserving the energy needed to play a complete game each time out at Lincoln County. Frankly, they won the tournament and beat Lincoln County playing very much like Lincoln County. Barek Williams led the way in the title game and finishes regional play with an argument that he, Tramane Alcorn of Lincoln and Kyle Stephens of McCreary are the three best players in the region. The Patriots don't end up making it to Rupp this year and lose Alcorn, Jackson Sims and Colton Ralston. They will be good next year, but I don't know if they will be the fierce contender they were this year.

So what's next? Pulaski County finds themselves in an incredibly interesting position. They play Warren Central to open the tournament and the Dragons are probably the best team in the tournament from top to bottom. Warren Central has just one loss on the year and that was to Madison Central, coincidentally a team Pulaski County beat by 1 at the very beginning of the season. If Pulaski can get past the Dragons, the top bracket is wide open and they will have a legitimate chance to get to the title game. Logic dictates that Pulaski may be best off continuing the methodical tempo that got them through the regional tournament as Warren Central holds an overall greater amount of depth and will most likely want to push the tempo to create an early lead that they can coast on. I do not see the Maroons having the capability to overcome a double digit deficit at any time in this game so they truly need to make every possession count.

I will be back next week after the state tournament to recap Pulaski's run and discuss whether they were able to slay the Dragons and pursue the title or if they were just one of several teams left in Warren Central's dust.