KY Buckeye

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.

It may be only just across the river from KY but I watched North Laurel win the Pepsi Classic in Ripley, OH with Ashland Fairview taking 3rd.

I can predict that the Mason County fans who have complained about the Ledger's coverage thus far this year (even though it's been no different than any other year) won't call the comment line to say "Hey, thanks for tracking down sombody in Lexington to cover the 5/3 games and send them in every night." Sorry, I couldn't resist.

FWIW, here's a box score. SP: Owens 10 7-13 28, Anderson 8 0-0 19, Englert 3 1-2 7, Klee 3 0-1 6, Newton 2 0-0 5, Cunningham 1 0-0 2, Mason 1 0-0 2, Thompson 0 0-2 0. D: Massey 9 7-10 27, Graves 5 2-4 13, L.King 2 6-8 10, White 3 0-0 8, L.King 3 0-1 7, Grause 2 0-0 4, Hendrix 2 0-0 4, Curtis 1 0-0 2, Schalch 1 0-0 2.

Well done. Heck of a player.

Massey lit it up for Deming with 43 but they didn't get much else. Hall had 25 for Bracken followed by Hamilton with 18 and Cooper with a big 16 after a quiet couple games. Game Story

Bracken 67 Deming 56 I should be able to come up with more details here in a few minutes.

Augusta looked pretty good today and didn't show any effects of the tough game from last night. You had to be a little concerned when Bellevue cut the lead from 23 to 10 there in the 4th quarter but to the kids' credit, instead of saying "here we go again" they settled down and closed it out.

Portsmouth Trojans

I've been lurking and debating on joining BGP for a while but the chance to sound off on this topic made it well worth the $15. I'm looking forward to posting quite a bit here so hopefully this one doesn't come off the wrong way, it just gave me an outlet to say something I've wanted to for a while. It's really convenient to take shots at the local paper (or whatever media outlet) because their coverage isn't exactly what you'd like, but rarely does anybody ever stop to think about the logistics of it all. The Ledger has been getting killed about "not covering Mason County and St. Pat" but if you pay attention, absolutely nothing about the coverage has changed from last year or any other year. I'm not sure where all this new found hatred comes from, but judging by most of the comments and posts, it seems that everybody thinks the Deming/Bracken/Augusta/Lewis/Fleming/insertOhioschoolhere coverage is coming at the expense of Mason when it's not. The fact is, the Ledger sports department, due to different circumstances, was severly understaffed for the better part of last basketball season and many times the coverage was ONLY Mason and St. Pat. This year, there's not any less coverage of MC and SP, just more of everybody. If anyone has a legitimate complaint it's the other schools who got the short end of the stick in 05-06, especially the Ohio schools who got completely left out. At the time all those comments about not covering MC/SP were showing up in the comment line, the Ledger had been to and done a full writeup of every single Mason County or St. Pat boys or girls game within an hour of Maysville. In addition, all 13 of the schools in the coverage area had at least one game covered with a full story by 2 weeks into the season, something that didn't happen over the whole season last year. That's where the logistics come in. The Ledger hasn't had a full writeup for away games, but it's not like there's one in the past either. Everyone acts like the writers have some kind of agenda against Mason County instead of thinking about what would go into covering a game at Bourbon County (let alone Perry County Central) with a full story before deadline. And not to get too far off topic, but if they did ignore deadlines, budgets and everything else to drive all over the state to cover these games, the same people would be the first to complain when the price went up or their paper doesn't show up on time in the morning. Still, ignoring all of this, people will complain about having a box score and quick recap for away games. This despite the fact that this info is usually something a coach has to call in but the staff goes to great lengths to track down ONLY FOR MASON COUNTY. I apologize for the longwinded first post and hope I don't step on any toes with it. If anything, it just happened to give me an outlet to get started with something I've wanted to say for awhile. While everything I've said has been specific to Maysville since I'm pretty close to the situation (I won't go into great detail but you can probably figure it out), I wouldn't think things are much different in Ashland either. I guess my message is to think about things before you randomly take shots at someone. The writers want to have the best coverage they can but there are time, budgetary and any number of other limitations. Let's face it, we all love high school basketball, but we're not exactly dealing with a UK or NBA game where a story and stats are immediately available at your fingertips. Nobody is out here with a vendetta against a certain program. Do you honestly think that the writers sit there saying "Hey, I want to go watch West Union girls tonight instead of our hometown team which also happens to be one of the best in the state?" Constructive criticism can be a good thing and if there's really something you still can't understand about the coverage, call up one of the writers and talk to them about why it's that way. Heck, shoot me a PM if you want to. It's better than taking blind shots in the comment line.

Also, not listed are: Wednesday: Bracken vs. Nicholas, 8:15 Thursday: Bracken vs. Betsy Layne, 8:15 Friday: Betsy Layne vs. Nicholas, 4:45 After pool play wraps up, there will be 7th, 5th, 3rd and championship games at the same times Saturday.