Here is your 13th Region Top 10 Week 4. Harlan County may not have won the KOB but they showed they are more than capable of competing and beating some of the top teams in the state. South Laurel also won their tournament, and Bell County won theirs as well. The 13th is playing good basketball right now. 

 

1. Harlan County (10-1).
Harlan County faced their first L of the season in the first round of the KOB against Bowling Green, but bounced back and knocked off Butler County, De La Salle, and Male to win the consolation bracket. Trent Noah continues to show why he is one of the best players in our state. Noah and Maddox Huff scored 24 and 22 in the win over Male. HC will play Oak Ridge tomorrow in the Arby’s Classic and will likely have a couple games after that. 

2. South Laurel  (6-2)
The Cardinals had an unblemished week by going 3-0 and winning the Legacy Nissan Dribble Drive Challenge. In doing so, they beat Owen Co by 13, Rockcastle by 13, and CAL by 1 on a last second shot by Jordan Mabe. Right now it feels like South and Harlan Co are a notch ahead of the rest in the 13th. SL will play North Hardin the 27th this week. Word is a player may be joining the Cardinals from another top 5 team in the region. 

3. Corbin (4-1).
Corbin went 2-1 in the Legacy Nissan Challenge by beating Harlan and Rockcastle before losing to CAL by 21. Corbin is team that will only get better throughout the year. Corbin was led by a balanced scoring attack in their 20 point win over Rock with 6 players scoring 8+. Corbin hosts the Cumberland Falls Invitational this week and will play Paris and Webb TN in pool play. 

4. Bell County (10-0).
Bell is a team that just keeps winning. They won the Redmond Auto Group Holiday Classic by knocking off Cumberland Gap, Owsley County, and Scott County. None of those games were closer than 27 points. Bell was led in the championship game by Ethan Buell and Blake Burnett. 

5. Clay County (7-3)
Clay finished as runnerups in the McCreary invitational with wins over Danville and McCreary Central and a loss in the finals to Wayne County on a buzzer beater. Elijah Bundy had 14 in the loss to Wayne. Clay will play in the Island Beach Blowout in FL this week. 

6. Whitley County (9-1)
Whitley went 3-0 again on the week. They’ve not lost a game since their first and ride a 9 game win streak. They went 2-0 in the Hoosier Gym tournament and won against Belfry at home. They play this week in the Borderline Classic in TN against South-Doyle, Barbourville, and Garrard County. They were led by a balanced scoring attack in their win against Belfry with 5 players scoring double digits. 

7. Pineville (5-4)
The Mountain Lions went 1-2 on the week with a win over Lanler Christian Academy and losses against George Wythe and Morgan County. They play Trimble County and a few others this week in the Chain Rock Classic. Pineville looks for a little more consistency to help out Sawyer Thompson and Ashton Moser who are both averaging 23.2 and 22.0 on the year. 

8. Knox Central (7-3).
Knox went 2-1 and have far surpassed their season win total last year with wins over Casey County and McCreary Central this week. They took a blowout loss against Wayne County by 33. Knox is by far the most improved team in the region and it’s good to see them back winning and competing. Gavin Chadwell coming back in has been a huge boost for the panthers. 

9. North Laurel (2-7).
North went 1-2 on the week with losses against Baylor TN and LCA, but a loss against Deltona FL. It’s hard for me to drop them much lower than this because of the schedule they’re playing. I think North will be fine and challenge Clay in the district, but we will find out more on those two come January 5th. For now, North plays in the White, Gree, and Maggard Holiday Classic with games against LaRue and others. 

 

10. Middlesboro (4-4)
Even though Middlesboro lost to Harlan 10 days ago, they are currently playing better basketball than them. With close losses this week to Johnson Central and Leslie County, the Yellowjackets look to get back to their winning ways against Somerset and others in the Chain Rock Classic at Pineville. 

 

Best of the Rest:

11. Harlan (1-6). 

12. Jackson County (5-6)

13. Williamsburg (4-4)

14. OBI (5-4)

15. Barbourville (3-9)

16. Lynn Camp (2-6)

17. Red Bird (0-5)

Great list. I think you gotta switch 3 and 4 but otherwise spot on. Corbin continues to play a somewhat watered down schedule. Paris will be cake in the CFI although Webb should be a good matchup because they have the size to neutralize Worley. Bell also isn't playing anyone but they are winning in convincing fashion. Come tourney time though Corbin is def in the 3 hole but not just yet. As far as the transfer coming to SL I'm not sure he helps because they have 2 good players in those positions already but we shall see(I hope it works for the kid though since he is a senior). HC is def in the catbird seat although SL for the 2nd year in a row gave them a regular season struggle. 

I saw Harlan County play in the King of the Bluegrass and was very impressed.

 

3 minutes ago, LouHSJunkie said:

I saw Harlan County play in the King of the Bluegrass and was very impressed.

 

Trent Noah is the big name everyone’s heard of, but I think Maddox Huff is a really solid number 2 who would be a number 1 on a lot of teams.