KY Buckeye

Clifton Willoughby is one of the best names in the history of ever. I have a bachelor party out of town to attend next weekend and I'm fairly certain I'll use either Clifton willoughby or Shooty Staggs as an alias.

Yeah, really, you can't be serious. If there's really such a conspiracy, how about you find a team within a reasonable area to put in the 39th that Mason wouldn't beat by 40+.

This is a valid point.

Seing both play quite a few times this year, I could offer some decent analysis, but here's what i have... Bracken + St. Pat + Augusta + Deming = COIN TOSS

I'm about as neurtral a party as you can get in the area on hoops, and to be honest, I love what Jay has done at BC, but this one has the potential to be an absolute massacre.

Well played rupp. Travis Massey needed some love here. Personally I have it between Miller and Owens but Massey and Pelle are in the discussion, as well as the Jesse Hall patented floater in the lane.

It's hard to go against the team that's already won twice head to head but St. Pat is tough at home and the teams seem to be going in two different directions at the moment.

82-46 is what I have as well. Bracken actually led in the final minute before the half in this one before a couple RC buckets gave them a 29-27 lead. Second half was just a massacre. RC scored the first 12 points on a ton of BC turnovers to effectively end the ballgame. They traded baskets for awhile but RC closed on an 18-0 run while both emptied their benches and Bracken didn't score for the last 5:00+. Hamilton managed to play pretty well still and finished with 19. Cooper 8, Hall and Jefferson 7, Smith 3, Williams 2.

Sorry for the confusion, those were just the only two individuals I had.

For St. Pat, Owens had 11 boards and Klee had 10. That's all I've got for them.

All-Tournament Team Clifton Willoughby, NC Travis Massey, Deming Chase Dumphord, Paris Chris Owens, SP Corey Pelle, SG Josh White, Augusta Dustin Staggs, Aug. Ethan Glass, Calvary Ch Joe Flanagan, CC Jesse Hall, Bracken County Eli Cooper, BC Tyler Hamilton, BC Josh Kidney, Bishop Brossart Troy Cooper, BB Jimmy Uebel, BB

10th Region All-Academic Team Graves, Deming Duncan, Nichoals Yeiser, Paris Yeary, St. Pat Wiseman, Silver Grove Groves, Augusta Bray, Calvary Smith, Bracken Rebholz, Brossart

Brossart 12 17 10 12 - 51 Bracken 2 4 16 7 - 29 BB: Cooper 8 3-4 19, Uebel 3 2-2 8, Kramer 0 2-2 2, Niemeyer 1 0-0 3, Kidney 5 1-3 11, Lloyd 1 1-2 3, Rebholz 1 1-2 3, Weyman 1 0-0 2. totla 20 10-15 51. BC: Hamilton 1 3-6 5, Cooper 1 3-5 5, Williams 1 0-3 2, Smith 1 0-0 3, Hall 2 5-9 9, Jefferson 0 2-2 2, Craft 0 3-4 3. Totals 6 16-29 29,

I saw a Polar Bears team I hadn't seen all year in the first half of this one. Coming in, you had to think that if Bracken were to win they would have to play a mistake free game, but basically the Polar Bears made every possible mistake they could and an ungodly number of turnovers and basically took themselves out of it in the first half. Bracken laid it all out there as far as effort, but it was one of those nights that it wasn't going to happen. Hall probably tried to do too much at times, and Hamilton showed the effects of last night's ankle injury. Jay sat him down for most of the second half, which was probably a good call, no reason to risk the rest of the season in a lost cause. Bracken outscored Brossart in the 2nd and I'm still convinced they could have wone this game under different circumstances but you don't score 6 points in a hlaf and beat anybody. Ever.

Coach Schultz is one of the better coaches about calling scores in (for the Ledger at least, not sure about Lexington) but Monday's just happened to come in after deadline and was in today's paper. As a general rule, you'll get a full story for any games a writer goes to and the ones that get called in will have a few paragraphs with a box and whatever details the coach makes available.

Lewis was hanging around most of the first half and actually led with 2:00 to go. They looked like they were going to try to hold for the final shot but missed an open look, then turned it over twice in a row. Russell scores the last 6 points of the half, then opens the 3rd on an 18-0 run. Ballgame. Here's what I've got as a box: Russell 12 11 20 18 - 61 Lewis County 12 6 11 15 - 44 R: Gill 10 4-8 24, Vanhoose 6 2-2 17, Robinson 5 3-6 13, Blair 3 0-0 6, Turner 0 1-4 1, Mullins 0 0-2 0. Totals 24 10-22 61. LC: Ruggles 3 2-4 10, F.Witten 2 3-4 8, B.Witten 3 1-4 7, Enix 2 0-0 5, Lykins 1 1-3 3, Zornes 2 1-3 6, Britt 2 0-0 5. Totals 15 8-16 44. Three-pointers: R 3 (Vanhoose 3), LC 6 (Ruggles 2, Zornes, F.Witten, Enix, Britt). Other random stats: Russell: 24-45 FG, 3-13 3pt, 34 Rebounds, 24 points off turnovers, 42 points in paint Lewis: 15-50 FG, 6-17 3pt, 33 Rebounds

In the first meeting, SP had no answer for Hamilton inside (28 points) and the Polar Bears ran away in the 2nd half, winning by 15. I do think we'll get a better game this time but I still think Bracken wins.

Great game to watch. Bracken pretty much owned the first quarter (26-12) but immediately gave up a 13-0 run to start the 2nd. BC had a 3 point lead at the half but Pendleton took the lead in the first minute out of the break. BC led most of the second half and extended it to seven a few times but PC never went away and actually took the lead under 2 minutes. Tyler Hamilton got to the line and hit 2 HUGE free throws to take back the lead, PC came up empty on a couple shots and BC sealed it from the line. Box: Pendleton County 12 17 15 17 - 61 Bracken County 26 6 17 16 - 65 PC: Belcher 3 2-5 8, Mudd 3 4-7 10, Crozier 9 5-8 23, Greene 3 2-2 8, Lambert 3 0-0 7, Harden 1 1-2 3, Hickey 1 0-1 2. Totals 23 14-25 61. BC: Hamilton 6 4-4 16, Cooper 2 0-0 5, Williams 2 0-0 4, Smith 3 1-4 9, Hall 7 7-8 22, Craft 1 4-4 6, Jefferson 1 0-0 3. Totals 22 16-20 65.

One of the best games I've seen in a long time. Mason looked rattled early and only had one FG in the 1st quarter which tied it at 5 before Scott finished the quarter on an 11-0 run. At one point in the quarter, I think they missed 5 straight FTs too. As mcpapa mentioned, Miller had a good all around game and some of the other major players came on strong late. Mackey had 13 of his 15 in the second half including a dunk to close it out and Walls was 8-8 from the line in the 2nd half. Middleton didn't score until the 6:00 mark in the 4th but finished with 10, including a couple big threes. Also the Phares kid (#33) came up huge off the bench for Scott Co with Lee in foul trouble (picked up his 4th in the first minute of the second half). I don't know that I ever saw him miss. I think the key stretch was with about 4:00 left, Middleton hits a 3 to pull within 3. On the next possession Mason misses two FTs, Portwood hits a 3 on the other end, Scott gets a steal and Portwood converts a 3 point play. What could have been a 1 point game becomes 9 in about aminute. Here's what I've got as a box: MC: Miller 6 9-13 23, Setty 3 3-4 11, Pawsat 5 1-1 11, Middleton 3 2-2 10, Scott 1 0-3 2, Browning 3 0-0 6, Downing 0 3-4 3, Stahl 1 0-2 2. SC: Mackey 7 1-2 15, Walls 3 9-10 15, Hundley 1 2-4 4, Lee 4 0-0 8, Portwood 6 1-1 15, Burchfield 1 0-0 2, Phares 7 0-0 14.

I'm assuming this is the one we're talking about?

Mason, 54-50

Also, here's a box: Nicholas County 16 7 13 28 - 64 Augusta 7 26 9 11 - 53 NC: Willoughby 9 5-7 23, Campbell 3 4-6 10, Boone 3 1-2 7, Duncan 0 3-6 3, Florence 0 0-2 0, Wade 5 2-2 12, McCarty 2 2-2 7, Mattox 0 2-2 2. Totals 22 19-29 64. A: Staggs 3 4-4 12, Groves 4 0-2 9, J.White 3 2-6 8, Hamilton 4 0-1 8, Hardymon 1 0-0 2, Mofford 5 1-2 11, S.White 1 0-0 3. Totals 21 7-15 53. Three-pointers: NC 1 (McCarty), A 4 (Staggs 2, Groves, S.White) Records: Nicholas County 3-9, Augusta 6-7. And game story

Augusta played well in the 2nd but kind of sleepwalked through the rest of it. They never really got in a rhythm the rest of the game and were taking some pretty bad shots. Mofford really showed a lot of what he's capable of tonight. He blocked a ton of shots and was a presence on offense as well. Willoughby (#50) was an absolute beast for Nicholas tonight. He kind of took over during a stretch in the early 4th quarter and scored 6 or 8 in a row with the game on the line. Also, he was on the bench (foul trouble?) the majority of the 2nd quarter when Augusta took over. I couldn't see from my angle but was he the one who got teed up?

It's mainly the responsibility of the coaches but anyone affiliated with the team who has access to the information can do it. Unfortunately, some teams are more relaible than others, and not nearly enough scores get called in, especially with losses and/or long road trips. Coach Schultz is usually pretty good about calling in scores and this one was in the paper today. Harrison County 16 11 12 17 – 56 Bracken County 11 8 4 7 – 30 HC: Highlander 5, Puckett 3, Turley 18, Kendall 4, Muntz 9, Hatfield 10, Murphy 1, Dennie 4, Snyder 2. Totals 23 6-15 56. BC: Jefferson 6, Kauinui 10, Figgins 5, Ware 1, McDowell 3, Ahrens 3, Haight 1, Burden 1. Totals 10 8-18 30. Three-pointers: HC 4 (Highlander, Puckett, Muntz, Hatfield), BC 2 (Figgins, McDowell). Tara Kauinui also had 13 boards for a double double.

Absolutely amazing. Games like this are what make me love college football. I couldn't possibly think of a better way to ring in the new year than watching 14 hours of college football capped by this one. I hope it ends up on ESPN Classic this week so I can tape it. I LOVE the call to go for two. Their defense played over their heads most of the game but gave absolutely no indication of stopping anybody in the 4th quarter or overtime. You have to make that call. And the play calls were made even better by the context in which they occurred in the game. Hook and ladder on 4th and 18 at the end of regulation, the crazy formation with Zabransky split out wide on 4th down in OT, the statue of liberty on the game deciding play. Awesome. I just wish somebody would invent the technology to be able to mute everybody in the booth except Barry Alvarez. Somehow, I managed to watch this whole thing without ever catching who the other guys were but they were beyond annoying. I know Barry's got a lot on his plate being the AD at Wisconsin but I thought he did a great job and they need to find a way for him to do more games.