District Tournaments begin this week with some uncertainty on who should be considered the favorite to win the whole thing.  Daviess County and Butler County finish the season at the top of the rankings, as they probably have the highest ceilings of any of the 3^rd Region teams.  Grayson County beat both during the regular season, and hold wins against everyone inside the top 4.  Breckinridge County finished the season on a very impressive run that should have them considered amongst the contenders next week.  They also have the best district matchup of any of the top teams.  Daviess County will have to navigate an Owensboro team playing its best basketball of the season while Butler and Grayson will try to prevent major upsets in the 12^th.  Grayson has been upset the past 2 seasons but look to change that this year.  Owensboro Catholic has had to face some late season adversity.  They will play Apollo on Wednesday and that will not be an easy challenge.  One thing is for sure, we will be saying goodbye to at least 2 teams in the top 7 before Saturday’s 3^rd Region Tournament Draw.

 

1.Daviess County Panthers (20-6) – SAME

1-1 (L 86-84 3OT) Grayson County & (W 73-55) Christian County

               Daviess County has had an up and down 4 weeks, with regional losses to Owensboro Catholic, Breck County and Grayson County.  While 2 of those losses came in multiple overtimes, there is some cause for concern. The Panthers head into tournament time with one of the best duos in the region with Jonathan Moss scoring 20.5 ppg and DeAaron Watkins averaging a double-double with 17.3 points and 10.5 rebounds.

 

 

2. Butler County Bears (16-13) – UP 1

1-0 (W 79-72) Allen County Scottsville

              Butler County has bounced back from their late January slide to finish the season, winning 5 of 6. While battling some injury and illness, the Bears still found a way to finish strong.  Justin Castlen is playing his best basketball of the season and is scoring 15.5 points per game.  Briar Griffin and Trever Deweese are in double figures as well.  Ty Price closed the season scoring 28.2 points per game, placing him 6^th overall in the state.

 

 

3. Grayson County Cougars (22-6) – UP 1

2-0 (W 86-84 3OT) Daviess County & (W 64-62) Hancock County

               The week the Cougars had somewhat defines their entire season.  They scored an impressive, hard fought, triple overtime win over Daviess County on Monday.  On Friday, they were nearly upset by Hancock County to close the regular season.  While the inconsistency has been there at times, the Cougars are still finding ways to win games when they do not play their best.  When they do play their best, they have proven they can beat anyone.  With a 50-point win over Butler on the resume to go along with a triple overtime win over Daviess County, Grayson has proven to be a contender heading into the tournament.  Jack Logsdon leads the team at 20.1 points per game while Brody Armstrong and Spencer Langdon are both over 15 per game.

 

 

4. Breckinridge County Tigers (17-7) – DOWN 2

1-1 (W 74-48) Whitesville Trinity & (L 65-64) Caverna

               The Tigers had won 9 of 10 before dropping a heartbreaker to Caverna to close the season.  They head to tournament season with impressive resume wins in Grayson County, Butler County and Daviess County.  Mercer Rogers closed the regular season at 21.2 points per game, while Jonah Miller is also in double figures at 10.6 points per game.

 

 

5. Owensboro Catholic Aces (18-9) – DOWN 3

2-0 (W 60-54) Madisonville & (W 67-52) University Heights

               Adversity hit the Aces late in the season with the leading scorer in Luke Bieckman going down the last couple of weeks.  While he should be good to return for the district game against Apollo, the Aces rallied without their star.  They scored key road wins at Meade and Madisonville without him.  Coach Riley also suffered a tough loss over the past couple of weeks.  We should continue to keep Coach and his family in our prayers.  The Aces will look to channel that energy, as they take on Apollo in the first game of district.  Coach Riley has never lost a district elimination game since he has been at Catholic.  Luke Bieckman hopes to return somewhere near 100%, as he leads the team with 19.8 points per game.  Waryn Ebelhar and Solly Smith each average double figures as well.

 

 

6. Owensboro Red Devils (12-14) – SAME

1-1 (W 71-59) Christian County & (L 73-56) Henderson County

               The Devils finished the season playing their best basketball of the year.  The losses since Christmas have all come against top programs around the state.  In that time, they hold wins against Breck County, Apollo and Owensboro Catholic.  Owensboro has 2 of the top scorers in the region with Michael Acton and Keaton Hughes.  Each are right at 20 points per game with Hughes averaging a double-double at 10.2 rebounds. 

 

 

7. Apollo Eagles (16-11)  - SAME

1-0 (W 66-45) Union County

               The Eagles closed the season, winning 4 of their last 6 games.  Coach Tinsley has run his regular season record to 32-24 in the first 2 years at the helm.  An impressive mark considering where the program had been.  They will look to build that resume with a first-round matchup against Owensboro Catholic.  The Eagles are led by balance with Kobe Kelly, Tate Powers and Landon Henning all averaging double figures.  Henning closed the season averaging a double-double with 10 rebounds per game.

 

 

8. Muhlenberg County Mustangs (15-10) – SAME

0-1 (L 93-52) Bowling Green

               The Mustangs enter the postseason in a bit of a funk.  The good news is, they have already clinched their spot in the regional tournament with the 1 seed in the 10^th.  They should not be counted out, as they have proven to be a program that plays its best basketball in late February, early March.  Gunnar Revelett leads the team at 19.5 points per game, while Jace Sommers and Kason Morris finished the season in double figures.

 

 

9. Mclean County Cougars (15-10) – UP 1

1-0 (W 58-48) Webster County

               The Cougars closed their regular season on an upswing, winning their last 2 games.  Jax Lee closed the season as the team’s leading scorer at 13.9 points per game while Camden Baird raised his average to 10 per game right at the end of the year.  Mclean faces a major challenge as they are the only team in the region who has been unable to practice due to flooding in the county.  As of now, they have pushed the district back to mid-week, and it may not be played until Thursday if the water does not go down.

 

 

10. Meade County Greenwave (15-9) – DOWN 1

1-0 (W 78-58) Campbellsville

               The Waves closed out another winning season for Coach Tripure and now turn their attention to Hancock County on Tuesday.  The Waves will seek game by game consistency as they enter the postseason, because when this team is playing at its best, they are dangerous.  Hayden Shouse closed his tremendous regular season as the 2^nd leading scorer in the region with 22.7 points per game.  He also pulls almost 9 boards per contest.  Cade Scott, Cam House and Ayden Medley all closed the season as double figure scorers.

 

 

11. Edmonson County Wildcats (14-10) – SAME

1-0 (W 80-67) Campbellsville

               A winning season in Coach Meredith’s first season must be considered a big win for Edmonson County.  With a new staff and large turnover in roster, they still managed 14 wins.  Kolin Doyle finished as the team’s leading scorer at 13.7 points per game.  While they face a tall task in Butler County in round 1, they will be playing with house money.  Remember, this is a program that upset Grayson County last season.

 

 

12. Ohio County Eagles (10-20) – UP 1

1-1 (W 59-55) Hancock County & (L 59-58) Russellville

               Ohio County was a hair away from finishing the season with 2 straight wins as they came up a little short against Russellville.  If the Eagles can find a way to upset Mclean, you can call this rebuilding season a success.  Junior Ryan Durham closed the season as a top 10 scorer in the region at 17.7 points per game.  Tate Abney also finished the season as a double figure scorer.

 

 

13. Hancock County Hornets (11-16) – DOWN 1

0-3 (L 59-55) Ohio County, (L 94-79) Lanesville, IN & (L 64-62) Grayson County

               Hancock continued to battle good teams to close losses to close the season.   Over the past few weeks they have hard fought losses to Apollo, Breck, Meade and now Grayson County.  Coach Roberts has one of the best rebounders in the region in Alex Madden, at 8.2 boards per game.  Madden and Keegan Wilson each averaged double figures scoring in the regular season.

 

 

14. Whitesville Trinity Raiders (7-21) – SAME

0-1 (L 74-48) Breck County

              The Raiders had a tough back half of the season, but will look for an upset in district over Grayson County, who they played to within 7 a few weeks ago.  Connor Hatfield led the team in scoring at 11.5 points per game.

 

 

15. Cloverport Aces (0-16) - SAME

0-1 (L 79-14) Francis Parker

              The Aces will face Breck County in the 11^th district tournament.  They were led in scoring this season by Freshman Hunter Bradley at 7.4 points per game.

DISTRICT TOURNAMENTS

                9^th District Tournament – Owensboro Sportscenter

#4 Owensboro vs #1 Daviess County - Daviess County swept the season series, winning the first meeting by 4 and the 2^nd meeting by 20.  Everyone knows about the dynamic duos these two programs feature in Moss and Watkins vs Hughes and Acton.  This game may very well come down to which role players step forward in the biggest way.  Guys like Will Hume and Jaxson Brown could push one of these teams to the regional tournament.  Daviess County has struggled to close out games the past few weeks.  It will be interesting to see how they perform in a matchup where all the pressure and expectations are on them.  PREDICTION: DAVIESS BY 7

 

#3Apollo vs #2 Owensboro Catholic – These two split the season series but Apollo’s win came very early in the season before Owensboro Catholic got its football players up to speed.  The health of Luke Bieckman could factor in, as he has not been at 100% over the past few weeks.  Coach Tim Riley is 9-0 in 9^th district elimination games.  Nobody does it better in pressure situations.  Can the young Eagles play their biggest game of the season in the biggest game of the season?  Landon Henning is the X-factor.  Physically, Catholic doesn’t have much of an answer for him.  If Apollo can get the inside out game working, this one could be interesting.  PREDICTION: CATHOLIC BY 5

 

                10^th District Tournament – Muhlenberg County

#3 Ohio County vs #2 Mclean County – Mclean swept the season series, winning game 1 by 18 and game 2 by 3.  The second game performance should give Ohio County some confidence that they can steal one here.  Mclean has been hit with terrible flooding and have not been able to practice for over a week now.  As of right now, the game is scheduled for Wednesday but could possibly be pushed to Thursday.  Jax Lee and Ryan Durham are the leaders for each team, but which role player will step forward to propel their team to the regional tournament?  PREDICTION: MCLEAN BY 2

 

                11^th District Tournament – Hancock County

#4 Cloverport vs #1 Breckinridge County – Breck won both regular season matchups handily and expect to advance to the district final on Friday.  PREDICTION: BRECK BIG

 

#3 Hancock County vs #2 Meade County – Meade swept the season series.  They won the first meeting by 32.  That margin closed to 4 a few weeks ago, in the second meeting.  Coach Roberts has Hancock battling, losing several close games over the last few weeks of the season.  Meanwhile, Coach Tripure and the Waves secured another winning season.  Hayden Shouse is 2^nd in the region in scoring and 5^th in rebounding.  He and Hancock big Alex Madden should be a great matchup.   Which team’s guards can put on the better performance may determine the outcome of this one.  PREDICTION: MEADE BY 5

 

                12^th District Tournament – Whitesville Trinity

#4 Whitesville Trinity vs #1 Grayson County – While Grayson County swept the season series, the 2^nd matchup was much closer than the first.  Coach West will have the Raiders ready to pull the upset, but do they have the manpower to pull it off?  It will be interesting to see how Grayson County plays through the pressure of being the favorite.  They have been upset in the past 2 district tournaments.  The difference in this Grayson team and years past is they have found ways to win even when they haven’t been at their best.  That should be enough to avoid upset this season.  PREDICTION: GRAYSON COUNTY BIG

 

#3 Edmonson County vs #2 Butler County – Butler County will begin its postseason defense of the 3^rd Region Championship against Edmonson on Tuesday.  The Bears won both games in the regular season comfortably, but Edmonson competed into the 4^th quarter of the last meeting.  It will be interesting to see how the senior laden Bears react to postseason play as many are expecting the best version of this team.  Edmonson had a great season in its first year under Coach Meredith but they will have a tough task to advance past Butler on Tuesday.  PREDICTION: BUTLER COUNTY BIG

LEADING SCORERS

1.Ty Price – Butler Co – 28.2 ppg

2.Hayden Shouse – Meade Co – 22.7 ppg

3.Mercer Rogers – Breck Co – 21.2 ppg

4.Jonathan Moss – Daviess Co – 20.5 ppg

5.Keaton Hughes – Owensboro – 20.3 ppg

6.Jack Logsdon – Grayson Co – 20.1 ppg

7.Luke Bieckman – Owensboro Catholic – 19.8 ppg

8.Gunnar Revelett – Muhlenberg Co – 19.5 ppg

9.Michael Acton – Owensboro – 19.5 pg

10.Ryan Durham – Ohio Co – 17.7 ppg

 

LEADING REBOUNDERS

1.DeAaron Watkins – Daviess Co – 10.5 rpg

2.Keaton Hughes – Owensboro – 10.2 rpg

3.Landon Henning – Apollo – 10 rpg

4.Trever Deweese – Butler Co – 9 rpg

5.Hayden Shouse – Meade Co – 8.7 rpg