Region 5: Week 11

Heading into the last week of the regular season, a few teams are performing well, a few teams are going back and forth, and a few teams are just looking forward to the season being over. Adair County is playing some great basketball right now and just narrowly lost against defending 4^th Region champion and favorite this year, Warren Central 58-56. A Connor Loy shot at the buzzer would’ve forced overtime. The Indians are firing on all cylinders right now.

Taylor County, Larue County, North Hardin and Caverna are all playing really well at the moment too. Caverna holds the longest win streak of any team in the region right now with 6 wins and are 8-2 in their last 10 games. Larue County had a very good week for the second week in a row with wins convincing wins over Elizabethtown and Glasgow. The Hawks have now won 4 in a row.

Green County’s biggest problem right now is that they aren’t playing much basketball at all. 16 days into the month of February and the Dragons have only played 4 games. Weather and sickness have caused the Dragons to not see the hardwood much this month. They only played one game last week, a 13-point loss to one of the 7^th region favorites, Male.

Going into last week, I was really high on Central Hardin, but after this week, I’m not so much. They went 0-2 and neither defeat was very bad, but it was how the Bruins reacted and responded that have caused me to sour a bit on them. They had a 3-point loss at Bullitt East, which wasn’t that bad of a loss, but multiple Bruins and some of the coaching staff, blamed that loss on officiating, not the missed free throws, turnovers or missed layups. I know going out of region, teams often feel like they don’t get a friendly whistle, but you rarely hear good teams place blame on the officials. The second loss this week came against Caverna. The score will reflect this game as being a little closer, but this game wasn’t close. Caverna scores an 11-point win, that was reduced by several late threes by Central Hardin players once the benches had been emptied. If Central Hardin plans to make any noise in the post-season, they need to use this week to get their mental game in the right space. They’ll get to challenge 2 of the top teams in the region this week in Adair County and Taylor County.

I also want to take a moment to give some kudos to a team that hasn’t gotten very many of those in a very long time. Fort Knox has been a program that hasn’t been able to do much in recent history. There’s lots of factors for that, but The Golden Eagles have a 3-game winning streak going on right now and are 5-5 in their last 10 games, 5-2 in their last 7 games. Fort Knox has only had two other 3-game winning streaks in the last 10 years. Last season they finished the regular season defeating Brown twice, and Cloverport. Before that, you have to go all the way back to the 2016-2017 season to find a three-game winning streak. That was also the last season that they won 10 games in a season. Fort Knox won’t win 10 games this year, but credit to them for not giving up and coming to the gym each night to compete.

Lastly, congratulations to Michael Baffour of North Hardin for winning Coach of the Year (back-to-back seasons) and Connor Loy of Adair County for winning Player of the Year.

Here’s the rankings heading into the last week of the regular season:

1. Adair County (22-5)
Results from Last Week: Warren Central 56-58, Marion County 75-56, Russell County 78-57       
Upcoming Games: Central Hardin, at Caverna, at Mercer County   
Current Streak: W2, Last 10 Games: (9-1)

 2. Green County (19-3)
Results from Last Week: Male 66-79     
Upcoming Games: at Elizabethtown, Bardstown, at Cumberland County     
Current Streak: L1, Last 10 Games (8-2)

3. Taylor County (19-5)
Results from Last Week: Campbellsville 72-55, Elizabethtown 71-58      
Upcoming Games: at Boyle County, Barren County, at John Hardin, at Central Hardin
Current Streak: W2, Last 10 Games: (8-2)

4. North Hardin (16-8)
Results from Last Week: PRP 51-62, Evangel Christian 81-62    
Upcoming Games: at Spencer County, Warren Central         
Current Streak: W1, Last 10 Games: (7-3)

5. Larue County (19-8)
Results from Last Week: Elizabethtown 64-44, Glasgow 80-40   
Upcoming Games: Warren Central, at Washington County  
Current Streak: W4, Last 10 Games: (6-4) 

6. Caverna (14-10)
Results from Last Week: Warren East 66-47, Central Hardin 65-54         
Upcoming Games: Adair County, Metcalfe County   
Current Streak: W6, Last 10 Games: (8-2) 

7. Central Hardin (18-8)
Results from Last Week: Bullitt East 53-56, Caverna 54-65        
Upcoming Games: at Adair County, Washington County, Taylor County      
Current Streak: L2, Last 10 Games: (7-3) 

8. Bardstown (14-7)
Results from Last Week: Campbellsville 76-61
Upcoming Games: Marion County, at Green County, Spencer County, Boyle County
Current Streak: W3, Last 10 Games: (5-5) 

9. Bethlehem (15-11)
Results from Last Week: Thomas Nelson 66-59, WEB DuBois 78-71       
Upcoming Games: Desales, Nicholas County 
Current Streak: W3, Last 10 Games: (6-4) 

10. Marion County (16-9)
Results from Last Week: Adair County 56-75, Washington County 63-59, Trinity Christian 75-30 
Upcoming Games: at Bardstown, Thomas Nelson, at Bullitt Central 
Current Streak: W2, Last 10 Games: (6-4) 

11. Hart County (10-16)
Results from Last Week: Edmonson County 47-72, Metcalfe County 80-74, John Hardin 65-45    
Upcoming Games: Nelson County, at Thomas Nelson
Current Streak: W2, Last 10 Games: (3-7)

12. Washington County (10-15)
Results from Last Week: Southern 51-68, Marion County 59-63, Bluegrass United 65-63
Upcoming Games: John Hardin, at Central Hardin, Larue County  
Current Streak: W1, Last 10 Games: (3-7)

 13. Thomas Nelson (10-15)
Results from Last Week: Valley 71-36, Bethlehem 59-66
Upcoming Games: at Marion County, Hart County, at Burgin          
Current Streak: L1, Last 10 Games:(4-6)

 14. Elizabethtown (7-18)
Results from Last Week: Larue County 44-64, Taylor County 58-71        
Upcoming Games: Green County, Oldham County   
Current Streak: L5, Last 10 Games: (3-7)

 15. Fort Knox (5-15)
Results from Last Week: Fort Campbell 63-51   
Upcoming Games: Valley, at Doss, at Nelson County 
Current Streak: W3, Last 10 Games (5-5)

 16. Nelson County (5-19)
Results from Last Week: John Hardin 47-77, Danville 68-77      
Upcoming Games: Doss, at Hart County, Fort Knox 
Current Streak: L2, Last 10 Games: (4-6)

 17. John Hardin (3-23)
Results from Last Week: Meade County 62-68, Nelson County 77-47, Hart County 45-65
Upcoming Games: at Washington County, Taylor County, Desales    
Current Streak: L1, Last 10 Games: (2-8)

 18. Campbellsville (2-22)
Results from Last Week: Taylor County 55-72, Evangel Christian 53-62, Bardstown 61-76
Upcoming Games: Somerset, Edmonson County, at Meade County  
Current Streak: L12, Last 10 Games: (0-10)