Quagmire

I've been to Henry County and Montgomery County, two of the biggest other gyms I know of, but neither have that feel that you get when the Fieldhouse is packed and it's win or go home time.

My first ever trip to the Fieldhouse was the Bourbon County vs. Pendleton County final in 1984. Everyone that says it was packed full is absolutely correct. My cousin and I sat in the front row in the west corner of the visitors side. And not comfortably I might add. We were basically falling off the bleacher. Also attended that Maysville vs. Harrison County final as well. My favorite memory has to be the Augusta vs. Mason County district semifinal in 2013 won by Augusta 72-61. The frustration of 27 straight losses was erased with the victory. But back to the building itself. I have been to many many gyms in the state but no gym anywhere matches the Fieldhouse. Loved listening to Marty Wallingford. Still one of the best ever. And walking in the doors after walking through the lobby and seeing the place packed full of fans is just an amazing sight. It is an iconic structure in this area and should be appreciated by basketball fans no matter who they root for. It is the Royals home floor but it means so much more than that. Just remembered this and some may not even notice this but, being at the regional tournament watching the first game of the night when a team playing the second game arrives and their fans stand up and cheer as they make their way by to their locker room. It's got an old school feel but has been updated enough to make it just right for today. I'll end with a shout out to whoever is responsible for keeping the place clean, they do an amazing job.

Panthers keep composure and pull this one out. Strong defensive effort from the team. Garrard scored a game high 20 but had little help. He was completely gassed by the 4th quarter. It'll take another strong defensive effort and smart game offensively to win on Saturday night. Best of luck to Augusta!!!

The losses to Iroquois, Model and Pendleton County were bad losses, no doubt about it. But sometimes you have a bad night. Sometimes shots don't fall. Sometimes you're in a stretch of a ton of games, all on the road night after night and fatigue just might set in. I'm not making excuses for the losses. I'm trying to explain that when then district tournament starts, everyone is 0-0. It doesn't matter who you played, when you played them, how you did. As I mentioned in an earlier post, you can't compare or make predictions based on games against common opponents. Until a smaller school actually competes with a larger school there will be intimidation that keeps the two at a distance. Three years ago, Augusta broke down that barrier when they took Mason County to the wire in the 39th district final. Since then Augusta is 2-2 vs. Mason County, two losses in the Murph, two wins in the district. And pressure on Hinson? Not a chance. In fact, due to the sizes of the two schools, the pressure should always be on Mason County. And should the two meet in the district again maybe Mason County will win. But they were supposed to the last two years, weren't they?

I was hoping I'd get a piece of the floor, not just because of Augusta's victory but the history of the place. If that floor could have talked....

Mason County is the clear #1 and they have proved it so far. It's hard for me to rank a top 10 because I haven't seen all the teams play. But the most scrutinized team in the region seems to be Augusta. I've seen the Panthers play 17 times this season and there have been highs and lows. The highs are of course the wins over Scott and Harrison County. Neither opponent was at full strength but both were still quality teams and at the end of each contest, Augusta won. Their lows were losses to Pendleton County, Boone County, Model and Iroquois. The Panthers should have won 3 of those four and be 16-3 right now but their late December slump made them a team that no one is talking about anymore. They won't be complaining about that either. They are currently on a four game winning streak heading into Thursday night's matchup with Paris in the class a semifinal. Don't use scores of common opponents to define Augusta or anyone else, none of it makes sense. Every game and opponent is different and there are so many factors that can play into each game. Personally I thought Augusta would move up in the rankings this week but I understand why they didn't. At the end of the day, when the 39th district draw comes in early February, the most nervous coach in the room will be Chris O'Hearn. Because no matter what me, or anyone else says right now, Mason County does not want to face Augusta the in the semifinal round this season.

Their last game on the old floor? A 39th district tournament semifinal loss to Augusta, 72-61. Is that why they took up the floor? :lol2:

Doesn't seem like anyone really cares but, I got an answer to my question. The Ledger's reporter apparently thought he spoke to head coach Jeremy Miles but instead he interviewed Polar Bear assistant Andrew King, covering for Jeremy Miles while he serves his suspension. He's got one game left, Saturday's game with Paris in the 1st round of the Class A tournament.

Saw the story about this game in the Ledger and they quoted Coach Miles. Shouldn't he have missed this game due to his ejection in last Friday's game vs. Pendleton County??

Looks like that's accurate. They played St. Henry, got Lewis County away on Tuesday, then Paris on Saturday in the Class A. As if the game with Paris wasn't tough enough already.

Augusta junior Connor Maddox became the 23rd member of Augusta's 1,000 pt club when he hit a layup in the second half against Ludlow. :clap::clap::clap: :ylsuper::ylsuper::ylsuper: He finished the game with a career high 33 points.

I don't have the book but I do know that Augusta only had 1 foul in the first half. I'm thinking Ludlow had 7 at the break. Augusta is a mostly small, non-aggressive team that just doesn't foul much. When I asked Coach Hinson about that he said he wished we fouled more than we do because that would mean we played more aggressive.

Final from the Panthers' Den. Augusta wins their 2nd straight and improves to 11-6. Connor Maddox leads the way with a career high 33 points and scored his 1,000th point along the way. Camryn Snapp finished with 19 and Owens Crawford added 10.

What about the game??

I saw most of 3 quarters and thought Bolden never forced anything and looked in most cases to pass first. Holmes has a hard working team and the other guys seemed happy to take the bulk of the shots. The physical nature it takes to battle Holmes from beginning to end was too much for Scott to handle. They got good looks in the second half as they did the in the first but those shots just wouldn't fall. Next week's game between the two should be pretty similar.

Panthers get back to playing the kind of basketball we are used to seeing. Had some really nice runs on offense and picked it up significantly on defense. If we can get a win tomorrow we have some momentum going into a three game homestand. Jan. 2 St. Patrick Jan. 3 Ludlow Jan. 6 Western Brown (OH) SGHS 17 10 11 10 48 AHS 14 13 26 18 71 Augusta(9-5): Snapp 17, Tucker 14, Maddox 12, Crawford 8, Shrader 8, Cordle 4, Staggs 3, Shoemaker 3, Woodruff 2 Silver Grove(4-5): B. Miller 13, A. Turcios 9, Kuntz 9, Pollitt 9, Taylor 8

Love love love this picture. It shows the thrill of victory and in the background, the agony of defeat. Also if you look close enough, utter disbelief.

I'm going way back to last year when fans were crammed into the Igloo for Augusta vs. Mason County in the 39th district semifinal. The intrigue surrounding this game made it so huge. The two squads met in December and the Royals handed Augusta a 86-69 loss as they got some redemption for the previous year's loss in the district tournament at the Fieldhouse when Augusta beat the Royals for the first time ever, 72-61. Can't not mention the 2012 district final at the Igloo between the two when Brent Bach's floater in the lane sat on the front of the rim for what felt like forever and rolled off giving the Royals a 72-71 win. So it went from, wow, they almost did it ('12) to OMG Augusta beat Mason County ('13) to there's no way they could do it again ('14)!! Mason County was 21-5 coming into the game carrying predictions of another region run. Augusta was 18-10 having played a strong schedule to prepare them for the postseason. I don't know what the attendance record is for the Igloo but it had to be challenged on this night. The Royals led 13-6 after the 1st quarter. Then Augusta closed the deficit with a 17-11 2nd quarter to make it 24-23 Royals at the break. I don't recall how many ties and lead changes there were but it was an absolute battle from that point on. Brent Bach had only scored 14 points in the first half and in the 3rd and 4th quarters plus overtime he would drop in 34 of Augusta's 38 points including late free throws that tied the game then put Augusta ahead and gave them the win, 61-60. You could also see this game in a best individual performance thread. So many people have called it one of the best they have ever seen. A big part of the excitement of this one was watching to see what Bach would do next. Mason County seemed to throw every possible defense at him and he just could not be stopped. It was easily one of the most exciting games I've ever been a part of. If you want to relive any of Augusta's late game heroics search "augusta beats mason" on youtube. If you're a Panther fan, you just might get goosebumps.

I picked Augusta to win this game and I stand by that. I know that Mason County is talented and playing well but we've heard all that before. I don't think it's fair to compare Augusta with Bracken County when it comes to the Royals. Bracken County is a young team that isn't used to facing the likes of the Royals. Augusta on the other hand will have players on the floor that have played significant roles in wins against the Royals and do not fear them. That fear was there at one time and it was like that for years but not anymore. So physically, the Royals have an advantage, much more size, but we've heard that before as well. Mentally I give Augusta the edge because of the past. These guys know how to win, how to beat Mason County and you can bet that they will give everything they have to try to make that happen. It should be a good one. But if not, we'll just wait til March.

District rivals meet in December again. How do you think this semifinal game will turn out?

Augusta shot 91% from the free throw line and 52% from the field. Those kinds of numbers will put you in position to win a lot of games. Monday 4:00 Harrison County vs. Newport 5:30 Ryle vs. Scott 7:00 Campbell County vs. Madison Central 8:30 Mason County vs. Augusta

Augusta wins to improve to 7-0 over a talented Harrison County team. Trent Thompson, who missed last night's game vs. Holmes, played tonight but was nowhere near 100%. He scored 6 points in limited action. The Panthers were calm, cool, and collected from start to finish in this one. Even basically playing without Thompson, for the most part, the Thorobreds have size, speed and shoot well from the perimiter. This is the biggest win of the season for Augusta. They travel to Pendleton County on Monday night for a girl/boy doubleheader. Harrison Co. 9 30 51 64 Augusta 19 33 51 72 Augusta - Maddox 23, Snapp 19, Crawford 16, Shrader 8, Tucker 4, Shoemaker 2 Harrison Co - Case 13, Pulliam 12, Stroub 10, Williams 8, Jenkins 7, Kenney 6, Thompson 6 **Harrison Co is short two points, I didn't get a look at the book before leaving**

I think that Cooper vs. Crawford will be interesting to watch. Also think that Cooper is a bit more physical and that will help Robertson stay close but ultimately I think Bracken takes this one. Besides the two top players, these two squads are offensively challenged therefore it will be a low scoring affair. Bracken Co. 55 Robertson Co. 48

Tuesday night's game in Brooksville between Augusta and Bracken County will pack the house and be cheered on like it's March instead of December. I'm sure if you ask both coaches this is just another game but we all know better. As far as a prediction I'm going to have to pick Augusta. Crawford will get his for the Polar Bears but I don't think his supporting cast is where they need to be yet. That could change as the season goes on and they continue learning on the job. I don't think there will be any easy games in this district when March rolls around. But back to Tuesday night's game I think Augusta's experience will lead the Panthers to their 5th victory of this year and their 10th straight over their county rivals. As far as a battle of the webcasts I'm happy to see both schools broadcasting. It's a great service to have and nice to see Hall of Famer JT Teegarden will be adding to his legacy. Augusta 79 Bracken County 71

Took this from the Cats' Pause 2010-11 UK Yearbook article about Mr. Basketball candidates: The darkhorse for the award could be Christian County's Anthony Hickey. The 5-foot-10 point guard averaged 15.3 points and 5 rebounds per game last season. He has led the Colonels to the KHSAA Sweet Sixteen the last two seasons. He had a strong showing over the summer, playing for the Nashville Celtics. Hickey has scholarship offers from Liscomb, Murray State, Oklahoma State and Western Kentucky. "We have to win it," Hickey said. "We keep making it to state but we keep losing, so we have got to go there and win one. I'm going to put this team on my back and we are going to try and win that thing this year." Gotta love it!! :thumb::thumb::thumb: