The Professor

I still believe Ashland will win the 16th. They have defeated Boyd twice during the regular season and it took a last second long ball for Boyd to win the district in their home environment.

Very much so. He has mostly young players around him. He’s a junior and the other starters are a senior that only started and played second semester of last season and then there’s two freshmen and an eighth grader in the lineup.

Two 30 point scorers in this game, Bryson Edwards of Powell County and Corey Flinchum of Lee County. Flinchum is leading the state in scoring with a 39 point average.

Corey Flinchum has scored over 50 points six times this season and is averaging almost 40 ppg heading into the district tournament play.

I figured this would be a close game. I was at another game but picked up a few moments of this game in the second half and Hazard kept a 2 to 5 point lead for most the second half but wasn’t able to make much breathing room over the Pirates. The announcers said Hazard converted their free throws very well, with Seth Caudill going 9 for 9. That area of the game is so important going into post season tournament play.

GRC is pretty lethal on their home court. This one could be an uphill battle for North. I think they have the talent to play them fairly close, maybe within 8-12 points, but a win will be difficult.

I am leaning that way as well. One thing that makes Powell dangerous is all five starters are good shooters. If they have one issue it is they don’t have a lot of size. They have a few 6’2 players that can jump like kangaroos, especially Edward’s, but they don’t have the 6’5 type kids. But on the flip side the 14th region as a whole doesn’t have much size, so that may not be a problem. By the way, Powell County isn’t hosting the regional tournament. That will be in Jackson at the Breathitt Coliseum.

And I want to add Perry Central to the list of spoilers. I don’t think they have the team that can win 3 tournament games but they definitely have the ability to knock off any of the contenders.

This is an interesting game in the 14th region tonight. Some have Powell picked to win the 14th and I agree the Pirates have their best chance of achieving that goal since their last title in 2003. (They also won it in 1974). They have been rated in the top 3 along with Hazard and Knott Central most of the season. Knott beat them 79-77 in December. So most likely one of those 3 teams will win the region, but there are a few more that may not have the firepower to win the 3 games to take the title but can sure be a spoiler. A good example is last week Hazard beat Letcher Central on a last second desperation shot from the top of the key that found its mark as time expired. Other spoiler teams are Breathitt County (who now have their 6’4 center returning from a shoulder injury that occurred in early January) and Leslie County. Tonight’s Powell at Hazard game will be a good test for both squads and maybe an indicator of how things may shake out in the regional tournament at Breathitt Coliseum. My personal take is there’s not much that separates the Pirates, Bulldogs and Patriots. It will probably come down to who gets hot at the right time. I'm not certain but tonight’s game will probably be streamed on WSGS streaming service.

Owsley’s first win over the Wolves since 2015.

Breathitt also lost their only size when 6’4 starting senior center Danny Kayatin had a possible season ending injury in a game at Harlan Co just before they played in the All A State in Owensboro.

Powell should win this one. When the Pirates are clicking on all cylinders they are as good as any team in the region. They’re an excellent shooting team but there have been games this season where the shots weren’t falling and when that happens they can struggle, as illustrated by a 40 point win over Wolfe in Stanton and two weeks later a 3 point loss to the same Wolves in Campton.

Most of the favorites should win their regions but with that said it never works out that way. ? The 6th and 7th are always tricky to pick. The 16th comes down to Ashland and Boyd. In the 14th where I live Hazard has been big favorites the past three years and didn’t win any of them. They’re favorites again this year. Tonight’s Bulldog game at Knott Central will be interesting as the Patriots and Powell Pirates are most likely the biggest threats to knock them out of postseason. Getting to Rupp will be the reward but facing the 6th region, most likely JTown, will be a tough task. Martin is likely to win the 15th but Pikeville could as well. The 11th is tough too, but I feel Madison Central will emerge from that one. GRC will be the favorite in the 10th but Montgomery is capable of knocking them out like they did last year.

This is surprising!

Okay. I’m getting my tourney dates confused. That is what age does to one. ?

That is a little odd when one considers Montgomery drives the ball to the basket often in their offense. Sometimes free throw counts are lopsided because one team attacks the basket and the other takes mostly outside shots, but that is not the case with MoCo. 31-6 is a big differential!

I’m going to give MoCo praise for not being afraid to play teams like GRC and Ashland. Losing in OT by 1 point to a highly ranked Cardinals team in Winchester, and by 11 to an exceptionally hot shooting Tomcat team on a neutral court, is nothing to hang their heads about. I’ve always said the season games are to prepare teams for the post season play—-when it really counts.

They even wear close to the same uniform colors. I remember they played each other in the state tournament back in the ‘90s and that was two of the largest fan bases I’ve ever seen in Rupp Arena for the Sweet 16.

I know this, it seemed as if Ashland couldn’t miss a 3 vs Montgomery. If they consistently shoot like that the through the post season they will be difficult to defeat. Reminded me of the Cole Villars led teams from a few years ago.

I listened to it on Ashland’s radio broadcast. Ashland made nine 3s and Sears was the only player to make a 3 for MoCo. The radio guys said MoCo had open looks but just couldn’t connect. Jarvis and Terry combined for 40. Either Neel or Smith of Ashland had 29 but I don’t recall which player it was.

Is the Montgomery County-Ashland Blazer game at 6:00 going to be streamed anywhere?

Who is the lefty for GRC that made several 3s? He was big for the Cardinals tonight. Made some clutch shots when they really needed them to keep his team narrowly in the lead throughout most of the game.

Was Montgomery out of timeouts after the last basket? There was almost 5 seconds remaining and they allowed time to run out. That’s not a lot of time but anything might happen on an inbound play.

OT

63-63 5.6 seconds GRC ball