ARC

District Championship Game Scores: 53rd JBS 68 CORDIA 63 54th HAZARD 53 LESLIE 52 55th JACKSON CITY 64 WOLFE 62 56th LEE 52 ESTILL 49 On paper, the only real upsets in the 14th were : Cordia over LCC Wolfe over Breathitt CANTRALL'S RATINGS LAST FEB 27. 53RD DISTRICT 1. Letcher Central 63.3 2. June Buchanan 61.3 (4) 3. Knott Central 58.7 4. Cordia 55.7 (6) 5. Jenkins 41.6 54TH DISTRICT 1. Hazard 68.5 (1) 2. Perry Central 64.5 3. Leslie County 61.7 (3) 4. Buckhorn 52.2 55TH DISTRICT 1. Jackson City 53.9 (7) 2. Breathitt County 51.2 3. Wolfe County 41.7 (8) 4. Riverside Christian 8.3 56TH DISTRICT 1. Lee County 64.7 (2) 2. Estill County 59.7 (5) 3. Powell County 56.1 4. Owsley County 44.1

LEE Kenny Brandenburg Caleb Fetters Tyler Rich ESTILL Dixon Reece Puckett POWELL Romans Skidmoore OWSLEY Neeley Smith Brandon Coldiron Defensive Award - Caleb Fetters Hearn Tournament MVP - Tyler Rich

From where I was sitting it did look like a thrown punch, and I was watching pretty close, but the refs didn't put anyone out so maybe it was just my perception. Sorry about that. I've never saw Gilbert lose control like that before either. And Congratulations to Jackson City !

Wolfe had 4 starters foul out. Cody was wound tight the whole game, pushing and bumping and even throwing a punch resulting in a technical. I even thought that he may attack his coach at one point. Jackson City played hard and actually were headed for foul trouble early on. Wolfe was shooting the bonus with a minute to go in the first quarter. Gilbert removed himself from this game....guess that he wanted it too bad. In spite of all this, Wolfe had a chance to win it .... down by 1 point with 20+ seconds to go. One of the young guards walked and then fouled Howard with only a tick or two remaining. He made 1 to finish 2 ahead. Wolfe had this one if Cody only used his head and didn't allow his emotions to control him. He actually looked too dangerous to be on the floor and it makes me wonder how he will handle his real last game.......

I think that JBS will lose in a close one. :dancingpa

I agree that broad sweeping statements do not always apply to every situation. However, there does exist a 'loop-hole' with private religous schools.

Pretty much a toss up RE which Wolfe & Jackson team shows up. I do think that Wolfe has been playing smarter and that Jackson simply can't stop Gilbert in the paint. Wolfe gets it down the floor consistently = Wolfe wins. Not knocking JC at all, in fact I'm rooting for 'em. Jackson's seniors are class kids who have received little recognition.

Maybe in this particular case...I know nothing of Conner. However, I KNOW that I could 'Christianise' an AAU championship team and easily transfer them to one of the privates and that it would be difficult for anyone to stop it. In fact, I've talked to a few coaches about it and they all agree that it would be easier to relocate choice athletes to a private school. What is so hard to understand about that? Right now it would place one under the magnifying glass, but its' still not too late. There is a large grey area RE about students who transfer to private schools for religous/academic reasons who also HAPPEN to be great athletes.

I will say this - It would be much easier to build a regional contender at ANY of the 6 private schools than at the 3 public ones. Remember Rose Hill ?

Since when has Owsley County changed their school colors from maroon to red?? Sorry Prof, I guess that I should have said that ITS' ALL BLUE/WHITE IN BEATTYVILLE! (now technically, Lee Co's uniforms have a bit of red too, but I don't count that lol) BTW - Maroon is a color mixture composed of brown and purple. Although conceptually a color mixture, it can be regarded as a dark (and possibly also desaturated) shade of red. (Wikipedia) Nothing personal but I'm kind of old-school and well remember the rivalry. I just think that Estill and Lee can best represent the 56th this year. (I'm not too unhappy that some other red uniforms will be absent from the big show this year...)

They seemed to give up at the JCC tourney and somewhat at the last game in Beattyville. Just my impression- maybe wrong. That this game is NOT a 'win or go home' situation may be a factor. A lot of Lee fans were hoping for a rematch with Estill instead of Powell, mostly due to the "Romans factor" but I'm sure that you guys changed a lot of minds after last nights trouncing of the Pirates :eek: . Memories of 3 losses has to be difficult to keep blocked away. Lee has never beat PCC and the same would apply in that situation (and probably did when Lee lost to PCC earlier this season). I'm glad that the red is gone from Beattyville (Powell/Owsley) and Estill is the team that I'm rooting for (besides Lee ) on the road to Rupp. I'm really glad that your team made it in. Good Luck Engineers (after the next game tho ) and it would be great if we happen to meet again this season!

If Lee jumps out to an early lead I think that Estill's convincing victory vs Powell will become a distant memory and they will basically concede to a Lee team who has beat them 3 times (including a tournament). If both teams play their 'average' games, then Lee wins by 8 or 10. IMO Factors : Dixon's offensive rebounding- If Lee allows more than a few then it could spell trouble. Early lead - If Lee jumps out by 7+ early on then Estill may begin to doubt themselves. Fouls - Expect either Dixon or Rich to get into trouble. Threes- The team that misses the most treys probably loses.

Powell struggled from start to finish. IMO they play a lot better over in Stanton.

Lee hit no threes, Rich only scored 16, and Wright's team still led the entire game. Owsley looked better in the last 2 games (vs Breathitt/ vs Lee) than they have all season....IMO. I think that Robert Smith finished his basketball career with 13 points- 11 of those coming in the second half. Lee's scoring was balanced and they picked off several lazy passes and scored quite a few points after breaking Owsley's half court press. Coach Wright was announced as the 14th Reg. Coach of Year at the start of the game.

I've heard that POY has yet to be named....are the selections made at the same time (COY and POY)?

Congratulations to Coach Wright !

Jerry Mac and his old coach from Lee's College (Jackson) have been working hard to have the young Owls ready. If their strategy fails in the first 4 minutes then I look for the maroon feathers to fly but if it works then it could be a close game. I expect the Owls to have their wings clipped because of their limited bench. Lee by 16+ BTW- It's only hard to beat a good team 3 or 4 times.

Jenkins just beat Jackson City and may come into this game with a different mentality. No shock here if JBS goes down in a close one.

Maybe he should, but Jackson has some good players too.

I remember waiting for the maintenance crew to fix a roof leak right over the center circle a couple of years ago at Hazard. Took about an hour.....or till it stopped raining. I will have to say that few facilities offer such a hike as Hazards' does. I wish there were a college gym large enough in the 14th to host it every year. PCC is the best but it is a decided advantage to allow the largest school to play on their home court.

Lee Co only won 11 games last year and lost their leading scorer and rebounder (T.J. Howard). They were ranked about middle of the pack pre-season. Coach Wright has done a very nice job in molding the individual players into a team. I think that he is into his fourth year at his first coaching position. He gets my vote. I think that Coach Lively at Jackson City has did a fine job but the Tigers have hit a 4 game losing streak. They won 9 games last year and 13 to date this year. With Howard, Fugate and Thompson returning seniors they probably should have won those 13 or more. Not knocking Lively at all- but it does usually take more than one year. Spurlock at Hazard always has his team ready.

I think that KCC will win pretty easily in this one.

Neeley has played the last two games. Have you heard anything more recent? Lee fully expects Neeley to play in this one.

It aint always easy to win at the 'Den' in Campton- witness Hazard round 1 in the All A a few weeks ago. Emotions were high as sr. Cody and Co played their last game on their home floor. Lee never gave up or there would have been a "L" posted.

I think that the HL had Gilbert with 18 and Stamper with 17. Wolfe was deliberately fouling in the last minutes of the game. Wolfe Co played better defense last night.