Saturday, March 22, 2014

Day Four of the State Tournament

Romance died at the state tournament yesterday.  There were four quarter-finals, each of which featured a relatively normal public high school against an athletic powerhouse.  In each case, the powerhouse prevailed:

(6) Lou. Trinity 74, (1) Hopkinsville 56
(3) Scott Co. 64, Johnson Cent. 55
Bowling Green 64, McCracken Co. 58
(4) Cov. Catholic 61, Bardstown 54

So we're not getting an underdog titlist this year.  Instead, the champion will come from one of these four teams, who are playing in today's semi-finals (all times Central):

5:30 P.M.:  (6) Lou. Trinity v. (3) Scott Co.
7 P.M.:  Bowling Green v. (4) Cov. Catholic

At least we won't have the 7th and 11th region champions meeting in the final for the third year in a row.  Instead, they meet today in the semi-finals.

39 comments:

  1. After the first quarter, Scott County leads Trinity 14-11.

    ReplyDelete
  2. With 2:54 left in the first half, Trinity leads 24-22.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Trinity's got this. The Shamrocks lead 31-26 at the half.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Cardinals are fighting back. The game is tied at 38 with 2:52 left in the third quarter.

    ReplyDelete
  5. All tied at 43 with 8 minutes to go.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Trinity leads 50-49 with 3:58 left in the game.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Scott Co. leads 51-50 with 2:34 left. Trinity ball.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Raymond Spalding of Trinity gets an old-fashioned three-point play, and the Shamrocks lead 53-51 with 1:51 to go.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Scott County holds the ball for almost a minute, and then Trent Gilbert (who has 28 points today) hits a three-pointer to give the Cardinals a 54-53 lead with 59 seconds to go.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That Trent Gilbert has been something else in this tournament.

      Delete
  10. With 39 seconds left, Michael Stafford of Trinity is fouled. But he misses both free throws! Scott County gets the rebound and Gilbert is fouled. Timeout Trinity with 36 seconds to go.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gilbert makes both free throws. Scott County leads 56-53 with 36 seconds left.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Trinity comes down the floor and shoots a three. It misses! Scott County gets the rebound and Gilbert is going back to the line with 18 seconds to go.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Gilbert makes both free throws. Scott County leads 58-53 with 18 seconds left.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Trinity misses a layup and Scott County is going back to the line with a five-point lead and only 8 seconds remaining.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gilbert makes two more free throws, and the Cardinals lead 60-53.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow ... Gilbert. Pretty stunning they could get the ball into his hands so frequently to be the one who got fouled.

      Delete
  16. Trinity comes down and hits a 3. Scott County leads 60-56 with 2 seconds to go.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gilbert is fouled and makes two more free throws to give Scott County a 62-56 lead. He has been devastating down the stretch.

    ReplyDelete
  18. And that's the ball game. Scott County wins 62-56 . For the first time since 2011, the Seventh Region will not be represented in the title game. The 11th Region, on the other hand, will be there for the third year in a row.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I did expect Trinity to win this game, especially given their lead at the half. But I didn't account for Trent Gilbert, who played one of the greatest games in the history of the state tournament. Look at this line:

    4-10 from 2-point range
    6-9 from 3-point range
    10-10 from the line
    36 points, 3 rebounds.

    No other player for Scott County had more than six points.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Jason Frakes reports that Louisville fans are complaining about the officiating. I don't know about the officiating, but to me it's ridiculous that fans of Trinity would ever complain about unfairness when it comes to athletic competitions.

    ReplyDelete
  21. For the record, each team shot 13 free throws.

    ReplyDelete
  22. With 2:47 left in the first quarter, Cov Cath leads Bowling Green 11-9.

    ReplyDelete
  23. And then Cov Cath closes out the quarter with an 11-2 blitz. After one, Cov Cath 22, Bowling Green 11.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Covington Catholic now leads 28-13 with 5:42 left in the first half.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Cov Cath is rolling -- the Colonels lead Bowling Green 44-25 at the half.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Good for Bowling Green. Down by 63-46 with only 8 minutes to go, they have continued to fight. Cov Cath's lead is now only 72-66 with 1:40 left.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Nacarius Fant has 31 points for BGHS in this game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's quite an athlete. I'm glad he's playing football for WKU in the fall.

      Delete
  28. Cov Cath is going to win, however. They lead 76-68 with 40 seconds left.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Cov Cath wins 81-68. They will take on Scott County tomorrow afternoon for the 97th Kentucky State Basketball Championship. Both teams have very much earned their spots.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Well, I was for Trinity and Bowling Green today, but, whatever, like you said, this tournament ended mostly yesterday for me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sure. bunch of wku buddies who went to trinity. i don't know anyone who went to scottco.

      Delete