5thregionbasketball

Haven't seen much of anyone play this season and haven't started looking at rosters for next year but I would think the region favorite is Adair and after that it's wide open. By district: 17th district will be considerably down from last season. Etown is young but will be likely favorites. John will be much improved. Central will be young but probably still 2nd best team in district, North will have to find scoring to make up for all the graduated losses. 18th District- Might be the most competitive district in the region. Caverna should be pretty good, possibly the favorite. Green played well over the summer and should be improved from last year. Larue is young but will be decent. I don't know much about Hart at the moment. 19th- Bardstown and Bethlehem should be the frontrunners. Washington will struggle with the loss of Weiss. Who knows at this point about Nelson and Thomas Nelson. I would think Stallworth would be able to get a little more out of some of the Thomas Nelson kids. 20th- Should be Adair's to lose, then Taylor and Campbellsville. Unfortunately for Marion, they still have a long way to go to be very competitive in the region.

Was an absolute classic of a game. Both teams had plenty of chances in extra innings to push across a run but just couldn't do it. In the bottom of the 10th, Washington County had the bases loaded and nobody out. A pop fly that was dropped by the 2nd baseman (infield fly rule applied) caused the runners to take off, not realizing that the batter was out. Baines Turner, the 2nd baseman threw a rope to nail the runner at home and then the catcher threw to 3rd to get that runner for a season saving triple play. In the top of the 15th, Larue had bases loaded and 1 out (I think) hit a groundball back to the pitcher. The pitcher threw it to the backstop allowing a run to score and then a suicide squeeze followed that gave Larue a 4-2 lead heading to the bottom of the 15th. The Commanders were able to get one run across and had the tying run at third when Beau Baker (who had hit 3 hrs in the tournament already) popped out in the infield and the next batter went down on strikes to end the game. Was an absolute fantastic game!! Easily the best high school sporting event I've ever seen.

Congratulations to the Larue County Hawks as they repeat as regional champions in an absolute crazy game. 15 innings, 4-3. The best high school baseball game I've ever seen.

Day 1 everything held to form as each district winner won. That set up Taylor County against Washington County and Central Hardin against Larue County. Taylor & Central have been the heavy favorites all season to win the region. Both got shelled in their semi-finals games. Washington County defeated Taylor 8-0 and Larue County defeated Central Hardin 11-0. Game time for the finals in Greensburg is 7 p.m. eastern for what I think will be a fun competitive baseball game. Larue was a major underdog last season heading into the regional tournament and made a cinderella run to advance to the state. Can they do it again? Washington County to my knowledge has never been to the state tournament. Can this team be the first Commader team to play for a state championship?

May 26-28 at Green County Game 1: Green County (21-9) vs. Taylor County (28-5-1) Game 2: Elizabethtown (16-18) vs. Washington County (12-14-1) Game 3: Campbellsville (25-11) vs. Central Hardin (29-8) Game 4: Nelson County (14-14) vs. Larue County (16-17) Should be some competitive games on Memorial Day.

This is interesting. I've been hearing from the beginning of the state-wide realignment that the Bullitt county schools would be leaving and coming to the 5th region. The 5th would lose Green, Adair, Hart & Caverna and also add Meade County. Which of course causes more domino effects.

He's also the athletic director. Any chance he resigned as basketball coach and just going to be the AD?

I don't think he's leaving this season. From what I understood, basically Gatewood is in line for when Miller retires which from the people I talked to would be within the next season or two.

Josh Kays has been announced as the new head coach.

Taylor is making an announcement at 5 p.m. tonight

I'm hearing Josh Kays is most likely, but have also heard Adam Reed's name thrown out. Reed flirted with the Green County job when Kays initially took it and then backed out and then Jordan Gilbert took it, so Reed, you would think has some familiarity with the area.

He did not retire voluntarily. He was forced out.

Happened with baseball too.

Seems like it should be the likely choice now. Hearing that Gatewood will be next coach at Evangel, so that takes him out of the running.

Gatewood is supposed to be new coach at Evangel

Well to answer one of those questions, Weis will not return for Washington County. He is heading to prep school according to social media posts from a few days ago.

Any update? Haven't heard much out of TC about this lately?

Attended the camp in the late 90's, and as one poster said earlier, also where I realized I wouldn't play high school basketball

Bethlehem also loses Ballard and Culver but does return Osborne. Don't be surprised that Washington County doesn't also lose Weis. The 5th Region should be Adair's to lose next season.

Jackson will not be the next HC for the Bruins. He turned it down due to the family matter. Not sure how many other candidates the Bruins have interviewed and if there is an announcement expected anytime soon.

Was told that Kays didn't want the head coaching position, and that Gatewood was the plan until Quintin Goodin is ready to take over the team. Haven't seen Coach Irvin's post, but also hearing that this wasn't his decision. That he was told before the regional tournament that whenever their last game was, that would be his last game. If that's the case, that's a shame. Irvin is one of the best coaches in the 5th Region.

That's unfortunate for him. He did a really good job with what he had, unfortunately, he just didn't have much. The bigger question might be, when will Thomas Nelson consolidate back with Nelson County and even have a basketball team?

I was told last week that Weiss was done for the season. That came from someone very close to the program that should be in the know. If he plays, he’s a difference maker but does he throw the chemistry off right now and you’d think he’d probably be a little rusty as well.

According to the newspaper, interviews will start next week around the 11th. Fairly certain that Jackson is still the lead candidate but a family situation will determine whether or not he accepts. Josh Jaggers, I'm told has not applied for the position.

Ranking the Teams: 1. North Hardin 2. Larue County 3. Washington County 4. Adair County 5. Elizabethtown 6. Taylor County 7. Bethlehem 8. Hart County This should be a fun regional tournament. I could see 6 teams potentially making it to Rupp from this field. Game 1 Adair County (25-7) vs. Washington County (22-9) The first game of the region pits two of the best teams in the region all season against each other. Adair County is the 20th district runner-up, losing 45-47 to Taylor in the district finals. Adair has been at the top of the rankings for most of the season. They’ll face the Commanders of Washington County, who have been in the top 5 most of the season. Since 1998, these two teams have faced off 21 times. Adair leads the series 14-7 including a run of 10 in a row. Adair County is led in scoring by junior Connor Loy, averaging 17.8 points per game, followed by Isaiah Cochran with 16.2 points per game. The big question for the Indians will be are those two healthy. While neither Loy nor Cochran played poorly in the district finals, neither of them played up to their potential. Both were said to not be feeling well. Loy playing with a high fever and strep throat and Cochran vomiting before the game. Washington County is led by Beau Baker, averaging 17.1 points per game and 10.4 rebounds per game. Noah Reynolds and Riley Brown are both contributing just over 11 points per game. Gabe Weiss is injured and not expected to play the rest of the season. I think this game comes down to the role players. Which team has a role player step up and make a big shot in a crucial moment or get a big steal late in the game? I’ll take Washington County by 4. Game 2 North Hardin (21-9) vs. Hart County (17-12) Game #2 sees top ranked North Hardin take on Hart County. North Hardin was dominant all year in the region and finished out the regular season as the top ranked team. They’ll face the Raiders of Hart County who have been in the 9-12 spot in the rankings all season. North won the 17th district championship for the first time since 2016 and this will be their first trip back to the regional tournament since 2017. The Trojans are led in scoring by Shaun Boykins, averaging 18.6 points per game and Taveon Smith averaging 16.8 points per game. The big man, Darius Wiley is averaging 7 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. Hart County is the runner-up in the 18th district, losing in the finals to Larue County 58-31. The Raiders were the #4 seed going into the district and pulled off the upset against #1 seed Green County. Hart has been to the region a few times in the last several years, most recently appearing in 2022, but Hart County hasn’t advanced past the first round in the regional tournament since 2002. Ironically, the Raiders were defeated by North Hardin in the semifinals that year. The Raiders are led in scoring by the Shoulders brothers. Jaxon averages 16 points and Jacob averages 14.6 points per game. North has dominated this series. Hart County hasn’t defeated North since before 1998. North has won 14 in a row. I’ll take North in a runaway. Game 3 Taylor County (19-12) vs. Bethlehem (14-14) Taylor County comes into the regional tournament as winners of the 20th district, pulling off the 2-point upset and avenging 2 regular season losses to Adair County. Early on, Taylor County was expected to be among the regional contenders but then had a stretch during the middle of the season that really caused the Cards to falter. They have rebounded well though and are playing as good right now as they have all season. They’ve won 11 out of their last 12 games dating back to January 30th and that lone loss came to Elizabethtown by 3. Taylor County is led in scoring by junior Layken Lyons with 20.8 points per game and C.J. Johnson right behind with 15.9 points per game. Bethlehem comes into the tournament as the runner-up in the 19th district, losing to Washington County 52-51. Bethlehem was the #2 seed in the district and 1st year Head Coach Brad Greenwell has to be happy with how his team has performed. I don’t think anyone realistically expected Bethlehem to be in the region this year. The Eagles are led by Nicholas Osborne, averaging 17.5 points per game. This series is pretty even dating back to 1997. They have played each other 23 times. Taylor holds the advantage 12-11. I’ll take the Cardinals in the first round by 10. Game 4 Larue County (22-9) vs. Elizabethtown (19-10) A rematch of last year’s finals rounds at the first-round games. These 2 teams have a lot of history between them, having faced off against each other 32 times since 1998. Etown leads the series 26-6. 7 of those games have been in the regional tournament with Etown winning each of those games. Coming into the tournament, Larue is another team that is playing as well as anyone else. The Hawks are on an 8-game winning streak, that dates back to February 9th. One of those wins includes an 18-point thumping of Etown at Etown. The Hawks get contributions from Daniel Allen, averaging 21. 3 points and 8 rebounds per game. Jagger Mardis has come on strong as of late and is averaging 16.4 points per game. The Panthers have not had their typical dominant season although they have played well most of the season. Etown went into the 17th district as the #3 seed, defeating Central Hardin in the semi-finals and then losing to North Hardin by 5. North dominated that game in the 1st half, but a 2nd half comeback nearly gave Etown another 17th district championship. That seems to be the story for the Panthers. They seem to be a much better 2nd half team, so if you don’t put them away early, don’t sleep on them in the 2nd half. The Panthers are led by Ayden Evans with 16.6 points per game and Alex Evans with 15 points per game. This should be another classic, but I think history repeats itself and the Panthers bounce the Hawks from the regional tournament again. Etown by 7.