Tuesday, March 23, 2021

59 Teams Left

Twenty more teams eliminated tonight -- including Lexington Catholic, which was the number 1 team in the Commonwealth when the AP issued its poll on March 15.  In one of the all-time great games in the history of the KHSAA, Madison Central shot 15-21 (!) from behind the three-point line to beat Lexington Catholic by the incredible score of 101 to 97.  Imagine being the number-1 team in the Commonwealth, scoring 97 points in regulation of a regional quarter-final game, and losing.  Unbelievable.

Here are the results:

1st Region Quarter-Finals (at Murray St. Univ.):
Marshall Co. 72, Graves Co. 59
McCracken Co. 80, Fulton Co. 48

3d Region Quarter-Finals (at Owensboro Sportscenter):
Muhlenberg Co. 44, Hancock Co. 33
Owensboro 78, Butler Co. 35

4th Region Semi-Final (at W. Kentucky Univ.):
Greenwood 63, Barren Co. 39

5th Region Quarter-Finals (at Central Hardin):
Bardstown 68, Marion Co. 53
(4) Elizabethtown 87, Hart Co. 50

8th Region Quarter-Finals (at Henry Co.):
N. Oldham 61, Henry Co. 57
Simon Kenton 58, Anderson Co. 45

10th Region Quarter-Finals (at Mason Co.):
George Rogers Clark 68, Harrison Co. 53
Mason Co. 75, Scott 58

11th Region Quarter-Finals (home teams listed first):
Franklin Co. 51 - 44 Lex. Henry Clay
(6) Lex. Douglass 62 - 50 Madison Southern
Madison Cent. 101 - 97 (1) Lex. Catholic
Lex. Dunbar 78 - 54 Frankfort

12th Region Semi-Final (at Lincoln Co.):
Lincoln Co. 52, Pulaski Co. 47

13th Region Quarter-Finals (at Corbin Arena):
Clay Co. 39, S. Laurel 35
Knox Central 63, Harlan Co. 47

15th Region Quarter-Finals (at Appalachian Wireless Arena):
Belfry 63, Shelby Valley 46
Paintsville 84, Lawrence Co. 54

20 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for these roundups, and this is fantastic about the Madison Central-Lexington Catholic game. When you alerted us to the result last night, I thought I'd check in with our old friend from Richmond, Dominique Hawkins, and, indeed, he got the news over in Slovakia, where he is playing professional basketball and living it up.

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  2. The first two tickets for the Sweet 16 will be handed out today. In the Fourth Region, Bowling Green and Greenwood will stage a rematch of their battle in the 14th District Championship, which Bowling Green won 77-44. I'm picking the Purples in that one.

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  3. In the 14th Region, Hazard (22-4) will face Knott Co. Central (17-7) with a trip to State on the line. They played on January 4, and Knott Co. Central won 73-64.

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  4. In the 7th Region semi-finals, at Louisville Valley H.S., Manual beats Male 68-62 in overtime. Next up is the annual battle between Trinity and Ballard, which usually decides this vital region.

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  5. Bowling Green leads Greenwood 16-6 after one quarter. Based on this information and the exit polls, the HP desk is calling the Fourth Region for Bowling Green.

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  6. Jason Frakes reports that Trinity leads Ballard 14-11 after one quarter.

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  7. Bowling Green wins the 4th Region with a 57-49 win over Greenwood. The Purples return to the Sweet 16 for the first time since they won it all in 2017.

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  8. St. Henry, the number 2 team in the state that beat CovCath in thrilling style on Monday, loses to Highlands 74-68 in the 9th Region Semi-Finals.

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    Replies
    1. Highlands has never won the KHSAA boys' basketball championship.

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  9. Ballard pounds Trinity 79-57 and will play Manual for a trip to the State Tournament. Spare a thought for Male, which was the number-1 team in the state last year but never got to play in the Sweet 16.

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    Replies
    1. All-time championships of these four teams:

      -- Male 4, most recently in 1975
      -- Manual 4, 1931
      -- Ballard 3, 1999
      -- Trinity 2, 2019

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  10. Knott County Central is going back to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015. They beat Hazard 65-56 to win the 14th Region.

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    Replies
    1. Knott County Central has never won the Sweet 16.

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  11. There are four mountain regions: 13, 14, 15, and 16. Since 1980, those regions have combined to win three state championships:

    1987: Clay Co.
    1996: Paintsville
    2010: Shelby Valley

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  12. Four regions cover the western part of the Commonwealth: 1, 2, 3, and 4. Since 1980, those regions have combined to win nine state championships:

    1980: Owensboro
    1984: Logan Co.
    1985: Hopkinsville
    1992: University Heights
    1995: Breckinridge Co.
    2004: Warren Central
    2011: Christian Co.
    2015: Owensboro
    2017: Bowling Green

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  13. The other 28 titles between 1980 and 2019 were shared as follows:

    Region 5: 2
    Region 6: 4
    Region 7: 6
    Region 8: 1
    Region 9: 4
    Region 10: 2
    Region 11: 6
    Region 12: 3

    It's amazingly balanced -- much more than I would have predicted back in 1980.

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  14. University Heights pounds Henderson County 69-53 in the Second Region semi-finals.

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    Replies
    1. The senior point guard on the University Heights team that won state in 1992, Marty Cline, is now the assistant superintendent of Hopkins County Schools. He coached Madisonville-North Hopkins several years ago, and his oldest son now plays for the Maroons, who play at home tonight at 6:30 against Hoptown in a Second Region semi. The winner plays University Heights for the championship Saturday.

      Before the pandemic, Marty was an occasional participant in our Thursday-night open pickup games at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Madisonville. He is one of only about three or four people of the 20 or 30 who come off and on who can really play. One Thursday night we were playing, I got the big head when I successfully executed a give-and-go (I was the giver-and-goer) with Marty and he gave me a "nice cut" after the bucket and we were getting back on defense.

      About 10 minutes later that same night, though, I dribbled the ball off my foot on a fast break. The retreating defender in front of me got a hand on the loose ball and shoved it toward one of his teammates. I was still scrambling for the ball, too, and the guy's pass ended up clobbering me right in the face. Blood went everywhere. My nose was broken, and I ended up having to have laser surgery on my left eye to repair the retina. It's a painless deal, but you can actually smell the burning flesh a little when the doctor is welding the retinal tear back together. That's a little unnerving.

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    2. The 1992 State Tournament is the only one I have ever attended. I watched the semi-finals on Saturday morning. And then, while University Heights was playing Lexington Catholic for the title, I watched UK play Duke in the Elite Eight.

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    3. I had a good time -- it was at Freedom Hall -- but I was too wired about the UK/Duke game to fully appreciate it.

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