Week 12:
Here’s your weekly recap for the 13th!

 

1. Harlan County (24-4)
The Black Bears took care of business and went 2-0 on the week to push their win streak to three in a row. They beat Pineville by 27 and Boyd County by 18. In the Boyd County game, Trent Noah set the record for most career points in Harlan County history by passing Charles Thomas. He finished the game with 38 and 11 and is currently 5th in the state with 29.2 points per game. Harlan County finishes up the regular season with a game at home against Knox Central tomorrow, and a game on the road at Whitley County on Thursday. 

2. Clay County (19-8)
The Tigers have kept things rolling and went 2-0 this past week. They beat Red Bird by 58 and Wolfe County by 25. Clay hasn’t lost a game since January 23rd and appears to be playing good basketball at a good time. They wrap up their regular season with a game at Harlan tomorrow, and then a game at Hazard on Thursday. The game at Hazard should be a good look at how they’re going to enter district and then region play. 

3. South Laurel (15-9)
This may be completely recently bias, but I felt like going into the year South Laurel was a strong team and with a healthy Jordan Mabe I felt like they had the best shot to unseat Harlan County. Now that he’s back, they’ve gone 2-0 on the week with a 29 point win over Bell County and a 25 point win over Harlan. South looks to wrap up the regular season on a positive note this week with a game at home with Madison Central tonight, a game at home tomorrow with Knott County Central, and a game at home Thursday with Lynn Camp. 

4. North Laurel (14-14)
North started the week off with a tough loss at home with Madison Southern by 14, but then bounced back with a big 4 point win over Corbin in double OT. The game was sent into OT with a huge half court shot by Kole Jervis that’s been seen circulating around Facebook. Kole led that game with 28 points followed by Brody Brock with 20. North will finish their regular season up with Whitley County on the road Tuesday and Lafayette on the road Friday. 

5. Corbin (16-8)
Corbin went 0-1 on the week with the 4 point loss in double OT to North Laurel. They had a player at the line up 3 with 1.4 seconds left and missed both free throws to give NL life. You have to be thinking the redhounds are kicking themselves after dropping that one. The plus side is they have three games this week to try to jump start themselves going into district play. They host Pineville tomorrow, host Bell County on Thursday, and go to Middlesboro on Friday. 

6. Bell County (23-5)
I may have dropped Bell a little too much after getting beat by 29 to South Laurel, but the thought process is I think Corbin will beat them this week so it’s tough to move them in front of them. I can easily eat my words if Bell knocks off the Hounds this week. Bell did rebound nice after their loss to South Laurel with a 14 point win over Whitley County. They finish up the regular season with a game at home against Lynn Camp tonight, and a game at Corbin on Thursday. 

7. Whitley County (20-7)
Whitley started the week hot with a 23 point win over Lynn Camp and a 29 point win over Barbourville, but fizzled out by the end of the week with a 14 point loss to Bell County. Whitley probably has the toughest week from the 13th region teams so far as they finish up with North Laurel at home tomorrow and Harlan County at home on Thursday. If they could grab the win in either of these games it would be some much needed confidence going into district play. 

8. Knox Central (17-8)
The Panthers went 1-0 on the week with a 10 point win over Harlan. Gavin Chadwell had another monster game with 40 points and 20 rebounds. The 40 points came on 16/18 shooting and 8/10 from the free throw line. Gavin has put together a monster year and is a big reason why the panthers have been rolling this year. Knox finishes the regular season with Cordia at home tonight, Harlan County on the road tomorrow, and Buckhorn at home on Friday. 

9. Williamsburg (14-13)
The Yellow Jackets went 2-0 on the week with a 4 point win over Barbourville and an 8 point win over Lynn Camp. Williamsburg finishes up their regular season with a game at Red Bird tonight, a game at Knoxville Ambassadors tomorrow, and a game at home with Ligon COGO on Wednesday. They hope to go 3-0 and ride that into district as they are the four seed in the 50th district. 

10. Jackson County (11-15)
Jackson County makes their way into the top 10 even with going 0-1 on the week with a tough loss to Bell County by 4 at home. The Generals hope to finish the regular season out strong with games at home with Barbourville tomorrow, and then Casey County on the road Friday. 

 

Best of the Rest:

11. OBI (15-12)

12. Pineville (17-8)

13. Harlan (6-18)

14. Middlesboro (10-16)

15. Lynn Camp (7-17)

16. Barbourville (6-22)

17. Red Bird (3-15)

Definitely getting down to the nitty gritty of the season. At the start of the season I said the Region winner would either be HC, Corbin, or SL. Still hearing of turmoil over who is the alpha dog at Clay, plus they have no one who can match up with Noah or Mabe--depending on the draw I believe they will make it to the Final Four. Corbin as they shown at the NL loss doesn't have a pressure player(going 13-30 from the line hurts as well). HC has 2 of the 4 most dominant players in the region although I still think the Arena backdrop will hurt them as it has the last 2 seasons, and although Mabe has only been back for 2 games and from the looks(at the Harlan city game) is maybe 80%. Butttttt he is the heart and soul of that team and just knowing they have him has completely turned that team around. Mabe is the only player who can slow Noah down in the region(have played them very close the last 2 seasons) and Rawlings does a good job against Huff, I think they will be the last 2 standing(again depending on the draw). Great list!