The Best Seat In The House

The final six spots in the Boys Sweet Sixteen brackets were finally filled Wednesday night in regional title games pushed back by last weekend’s winter storm. The list of winners includes Shelby County, which rallied to defeat Gallatin County 49-48 for the 8th Region championship. Shelby will play 12th Region champion Lincoln County in the first round of the state tourney at 1:30 p.m. March 20.

Gallatin, bidding for its first regional title since 1959, was up by two points and at the free-throw line with 12 seconds left. But after a miss, Shelby converted a three-point play with 6 seconds left to turn the tables. The Rockets will return to Rupp Arena for the second time in three years.

Here are the full first-round pairings for the Boys Sweet Sixteen, in bracket order: Wednesday, March 19 — University Heights (2nd Region) vs. Lexington Catholic (11th), Central (6th) vs. Owensboro (3rd), Jeffersontown (7th) vs. Paintsville (15th), Holmes (9th) vs. Bardstown (5th); Thursday, March 20 — South Laurel (13th) vs. Hazard (14th), Shelby County (8th) vs. Lincoln County (12th), Paducah Tilghman (1st) vs. Greenwood (4th), Mason County (10th) vs. Elliott County (16th).

* * *

Rockcastle County put up a good fight in its first-round game in the Girls Sweet Sixteen, but the Lady Rockets came up short in a 60-56 loss to Ohio County, and they remain winless in five trips to the state tourney.

Rockcastle led 34-24 early in the second quarter, then gave up 19 straight points in just 4:02 to fall behind 43-34. There were 11 lead changes in all and six in the third quarter before Ohio crept out to a four-point lead. The Lady Rockets’ last chance came when Angie Lawrence was fouled on a 3-point miss with 3 seconds left. She missed the first two free throws, and Rockcastle couldn’t rebound when she missed the third intentionally.

Sarah Rowe had 20 points in her final game for Rockcastle, and Sara Hammond had 18 rebounds. Rockcastle forced 23 turnovers but committed 29.

Notes and thoughts from day 4 of the boys 12th Region Tournament at Pulaski County:

• Lincoln County defeated West Jessamine 51-36 for the championship.
• This is Lincoln’s fourth regional title and its second in as many years. The Patriots are the first 12th Region boys team to repeat as champion since Boyle County in 1998 and ‘99. They will play Gallatin County or Shelby County on March 20 in the first round of the Boys Sweet Sixteen in Lexington. (Gallatin and Shelby play tonight to decide the 8th Region champion.)
• Lincoln’s defense was the catalyst in its win over Boyle in last year’s regional final, and that was the case again in this game, as the Patriots gave West Jessamine precious few good looks in the second half. By quarters, the Colts were 4-for-9, 3-for-10, 2-for-8 and 4-for-8 from the field. That’s 13-for-35 overall, compared to 19-for-40 for Lincoln, which was 15-for-26 in the final three periods and 11-for-17 in the second half.
• The Patriots hit six of 19 3-point shots, the last of which was a dagger delivered by Daniel Ralston off a sweet pass from Ethan Spurlin that gave them a 43-31 lead with 3:47 to play. “That 3 was a monster,” Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson said.
• Lincoln fell behind 7-0 in the first 3:03 — “We knew this would be a battle,” Jackson said — but recovered with seven straight points. It was 19-all 32 seconds into the second half before West Jessamine entered a period of 7:06 without a field goal while the Patriots went on a 15-3 run that included consecutive 3-pointers by Noah Keeton.
• West Jessamine is now 0-2 in regional title games, adding this result to a loss to Henry Clay in 2003 in the 11th Region.
• The boys all-tournament team: Gulian Blanton, West Jessamine; John Coomer, Somerset; Darius Jackson, East Jessamine; Trevor Jones, Southwestern; Noah Keeton, Lincoln County; Chris Muse, Pulaski County; Jared Polson, West Jessamine; Cory Price, Somerset; Jonathan Rehner, West Jessamine; Ethan Spurlin, Lincoln County; Dustin Wells, Wayne County; Shawn Whitis, Pulaski County; Christian Williams, Boyle County; Ryan Young, Lincoln County.
• The Other 15: The 8th Region finalists advanced by knocking out two Oldham County schools. Shelby County beat South Oldham 71-62; Gallatin County beat North Oldham 72-56. … There were no big surprises in Monday’s semifinals or finals. The best game might well have been Paintsville’s 79-70, double-overtime win over Shelby Valley in a 15th Region semifinal. … In the 11th Region, Lexington Catholic manhandled Bryan Station 79-63 to earn its first state berth since 2002. Jordan Smart hit eight of 11 3-point shots for the Knights. Bryan Station was denied its first title since 1989, and the Sweet Sixteen crowd was denied a chance to see Defenders star Shelvin Mack, who scored only six points. … Central, still celebrating its Class AAA football championship, won its first regional basketball title since 1978 by beating Fairdale in the 6th Region. … South Laurel needed overtime to beat Corbin 59-49 for the 13th title. … Other state berths went to Paducah Tilghman (1st Region), Owensboro (3rd), Greenwood (4th), Bardstown (5th) and Hazard (14th). Six other regions will crown their champions tonight to fill out the bracket.

Casey County coach Randy Salyers has been voted the 12th Region girls coach of the year by the Kentucky Association of Basketball Coaches members in the region. Salyers and regional player of the year Sarah Rowe of Rockcastle County will be honored Friday at the Girls Sweet Sixteen.

This is Salyers’ second regional coach of the year award. He also won in 1997.

The full list of girls coaches of the year is here, and the list of players of the year is here. The boys honorees will be announced early next week.

Notes and thoughts from day 3 of the boys 12th Region Tournament at Pulaski County:

• Lincoln County defeated Pulaski County 62-47; West Jessamine defeated Somerset 66-51. Lincoln plays West Jessamine for the championship tonight.
• Lincoln looked to be taking the express lane to the championship game when it pulled out to a 16-2 lead by hitting its first six shots, including three 3-pointers. But as one coach said during the game, “It’s hard to blow somebody out in the semifinals.” And so Pulaski recovered to pull within seven points by the end of the first quarter, and the Maroons took a 23-22 lead on Caleb Rowe’s 3-pointer with 4:00 left in the first half. The Patriots reopened a 10-point lead in the third quarter and were never threatened down the stretch.
• Ethan Spurlin led Lincoln with 19 points, just ahead of Ryan Young with 18 and Noah Keeton with 17. Shawn Whitis had 13 points and Chris Muse had 12 for Pulaski.
• This was the second straight year that Lincoln has elminated Pulaski. The Patriots won a first-round game in last year’s regional 70-49.
• Somerset had to feel good about its semifinal matchup after having beaten West Jessamine by nine during the regular season, but the Colts were in control of the rematch for all but a few minutes of the first quarter. Somerset’s last lead was at 9-8, and West Jessamine led 20-14 by the end of the period.
  The shooting statistics for both teams were interesting in this game. West Jessamine made the most of its 33 field-goal attempts, hitting 21 of them to shoot 64 percent. The Colts were 5-for-12 from 3-point range and 21-for-33 at the free-throw line. Somerset took more than twice as many shots from behind the 3-point line as from in front of it, going 12-for-25 on 3-point attempts and just 4-for-12 on 2-point attempts to shoot 43 percent overall.
• Gulian Blanton led five West Jessamine players in double figures, followed by Daniel Rehner (12), Jared Polson (11), Mike Lee (10) and Nick Jeffrey (10). Somerset was led by reserve Aaron Dockery with 12 points, followed by John Coomer with 11 and Cory Price with 10.
• Pulaski’s gym, by far the largest in the region, was nearly full for the first game. The semifinal crowd was probably the largest at a regional session in several years. They were packed in at Lincoln for the most recent South Laurel-vs.-North Laurel title game in 2005, but the crowd at Pulaski on Monday couldn’t have fit in Lincoln’s gym.
• Tonight’s title game is a rematch of a Dec. 15 game in Nicholasville, which Lincoln won 55-49. Last year, Lincoln’s closest shave in the regional came in a 40-39 semifinal win over West Jessamine in which Zach Fain, who has since graduated, scored 30 of the Colts’ 39 points and missed a last shot that could have given them the win.
• Lincoln will be trying to win its second straight regional title and its fourth overall. The Patriots’ previous titles came in 1975, 1980 and 2007. With a win, Lincoln would become the first team to win consecutive 12th Region titles since Boyle County in 1998 and 1999. West Jessamine will be trying to win the first regional title for a Jessamine County school since Jessamine County was split into two schools in the 1990s. Before the split, Jessamine County won one 11th Region championship in 1990. West Jessamine has appeared in one regional final, losing to Henry Clay in the title game of the 2003 11th Region Tournament.
• The Other 15: Adair County, the team that defeated Lincoln in the first round of last year’s Boys Sweet Sixteen and was favored to return to Rupp Arena from the 5th Region, was eliminated with a 63-58 semifinal loss to Central Hardin. … Pleasure Ridge Park, the favorite in the 6th Region, also fell victim to the upset bug, losing 62-59 to Central in a semifinal. … South Laurel and Corbin defeated Lynn Camp and Knox Central to advance to the 13th Region title game, which will be their 11th meeting in three seasons since South Laurel joined the 13th Region and 50th District. The Cardinals have won all but one of the previous 10 games. … The 8th Region winner, which plays the 12th Region champion in the first round of the boys state tourney, won’t be determined until Wednesday. Tonight’s semifinals match Shelby County vs. South Oldham and Gallatin County vs. North Oldham. … The bracket for the Girls Sweet Sixteen was filled with nine snow-delayed title games Monday night. In the 3rd Region, Ohio County defeated Muhlenberg North 63-56 to advance to a Wednesday night first-round game against 12th Region winner Rockcastle County. The Lady Rockets wouldn’t have minded playing Muhlenberg North again, because they beat the Lady Stars by 29 points in a holiday tournament. … Henry Clay completed an improbable run through the girls 11th Region with its second upset in as many nights, beating Lexington Catholic 47-43 for the title one day after knocking off top-ranked Paul Dunbar.
• First-round matchups for the Girls Sweet Sixteen, in bracket order: Wednesday, DuPont Manual (7th Region) vs. South Laurel (13th), 1 p.m.; Rowan County (16th) vs. Breathitt County (14th), 2:30 p.m.; Marshall County (1st) vs. Butler (6th), 7:30 p.m.; Rockcastle County (12th) vs. Ohio County (3rd), 9 p.m. Thursday, Conner (9th) vs. Henderson County (2nd), 1 p.m.; Johnson Central (15th) vs. Elizabethtown (5th), 2:30 p.m.; Simon Kenton (8th) vs. Franklin-Simpson (4th), 7:30 p.m.; Henry Clay (11th) vs. Montgomery County (10th), 9 p.m.

Notes and thoughts from day 4 of the girls 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County:

• Rockcastle County defeated Casey County 57-48 for the 12th Region championship.
• This is Rockcastle’s fifth regional title, its fourth in the last five years and its second in three years since being moved to the 13th Region. Rockcastle plays Ohio County or Muhlenberg North in the first round of the Girls Sweet Sixteen on Wednesday. (Those two schools play Monday for the 3rd Region championship.)
• Rockcastle does so many things well, but this win was above all else a product of its defense, which took Casey County completely out of its game. The Lady Rebels couldn’t get the 3-point looks they need, nor could they free up Megan Pittman on the inside. Rockcastle was both quicker and more physical on this day, and that made all the difference.
• The most telling part of this game might well have come in the final minutes of the first half. Rockcastle outscored Casey 10-0 over the final 2:32 of the second period and didn’t allow a field goal in the final 3:40. And just when it looked as if the Lady Rockets might hold for the last shot, Mary Saylor unloaded a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left that made it 24-17. When the teams headed off the floor at halftime, Rockcastle’s players were practically skipping toward their locker room, while the Casey players walked slowly toward their locker room with stunned looks on their faces.
• Saylor scored 31 points, going 7-for-9 from the field and 16-for-18 at the free-throw line. All of her field goals came in the first half; all of her free-throw attempts in the second. She also had four rebounds and four assists. Several folks who have seen Rockcastle play far more than I have said this might have been the best game of her life.
• Saylor became the fourth different player to lead Rockcastle in scoring in five postseason games, joining Sarah Rowe (27 points vs. Somerset, 24 vs. Danville), Angie Lawrence (24 vs. Casey in the 47th District final) and Jackie Alexander (17 vs. Mercer County). The last two girls mentioned are reserves, and Alexendar didn’t even score Sunday.
• Saylor had three points when Rockcastle beat Casey 66-57 in the 47th District final on Feb. 28. The Lady Rockets’ top two scorers that night, Lawrence and Ashley Robinson, combined for 38 points in that game but only two on Sunday.
• Sara Hammond turned her ankle and left the floor with a severe limp with 3:44 left in the first quarter, but she got a quick tape job and returned with 6:44 left in the second quarter and went on to grab a game-high nine rebounds. “All I could think about was this game. I just wanted my team to win,” she said.
• Kayla McFarland led Casey with 14 points, followed by Pittman and Tara Weddle with 10 each. Pittman had eight rebounds.
• Casey finished with 17 turnovers, 14 of which came in the first half.
• Casey is now 1-2 in regional finals. Prior to this game, the Lady Rebels lost to Boyle County in 1997 and defeated Wayne County for their only regional title in 2000.
• The Lady Rebels ended their season without a championship, yet this was the winningest basketball season in school history — girls or boys, by total wins (27) or by winning percentage (.870) — and surely one of the best seasons ever for any area team. Coach Randy Salyers said after the game that his team will learn from this experience and be ready to make another run next year in what will again be a fiercely competitive region.
• Salyers also made a point of praising the Casey fan base that grew exponentially along with the team’s win total. The Lady Rebels’ fans far outnumbered the Rockcastle partisans Sunday, and good crowds have cheered them on at home and away for several weeks. “We’re very appreciative of the support our fans have showed us,” Salyers said. He also thanked Casey’s school administration for its backing.
• The boys 12th Region Tournament resumes tonight with the semifinals at Pulaski County, with Lincoln County playing Pulaski at 6:30 p.m. and Somerset playing West Jessamine at about 8:30 p.m. The first game is a rematch of a Jan. 15 game at Lincoln, which the Patriots won 75-56 behind 25 points from Noah Keeton and 18 from Ryan Young. This was one of the last (perhaps even the last) of the four games Ethan Spurlin missed due to mononucleosis. Lincoln shot 47 percent from the field and outrebound a bigger Pulaski team 31-26. Somerset and West Jessamine played that same night in Somerset, with the Briar Jumpers winning 54-45. Click on the links to read the semifinal previews from the Advocate and from the (Somerset) Commonwealth-Journal.
• The girls all-tournament team: Rachel Bristow, Wayne County; Kendra Brown, Lincoln County; Nicole Coffman, Casey County; Loran Crowell, Mercer County; Devin Fothergill, Southwestern; Sara Hammond, Rockcastle County; Lauren Hatter, Casey County; Tasha Milby, Danville; Megan Pittman, Casey County; Sarah Rowe, Rockcastle County; Mary Saylor, Rockcastle County; Hayley Spivey, Mercer County; Jessica Upchurch, Lincoln County; Ashley Willoughby, East Jessamine.
• The Other 15: Five teams joined the Girls Sweet Sixteen field Sunday, joining two that had already gotten their tickets punched. In addition to Rockcastle, Sunday’s winners were Butler (6th Region), duPont Manual (7th), South Laurel (13th) and Breathitt County (14th). Marshall County (1st) and Franklin-Simpson (4th) were already in. … Nine regional champions will be decided Monday, none of which will be won by Paul Dunbar, the team that ended the regular season ranked No. 1 in the state. Dunbar lost 53-42 to Henry Clay in an 11th Region semifinal Sunday. … On the boys side, Lexington Catholic smoked Scott County 80-54 to advance to the 11th Region finals against Bryan Station, which beat Paul Dunbar.

The championship game of the girls 12th Region Tournament has been postponed until 4 p.m. Sunday due to this weekend’s winter storm. Lincoln County officials made the decision to call off the game between Casey County and Rockcastle County near midday Saturday. Click here for details.

Notes and thoughts on day 3 of the girls 12th Region Tournament at Lincoln County:

• Casey County defeated Lincoln County 62-47; Rockcastle County defeated Mercer County 83-42. Casey plays Rockcastle in tonight’s Sunday’s championship game.
• Casey won despite only 10 field-goal attempts in the second half; the Lady Rebels were 27-for-36 at the free-throw line after halftime — when Lincoln drew 21 fouls — and 30-for-41 overall. The biggest of those free throws might well have come when Casey scored nine straight points at the start of the fourth quarter to take a 48-37 lead.
• This was Casey’s second win over Lincoln in two weeks. The Lady Rebels won a regular-season meeting between the two teams 44-38 on Feb. 22 at Casey.
• Lauren Hatter led Casey with 17 points, followed by reserve Nicole Coffman with 15. Megan Pittman added 12 points and eight rebounds. Kendra Brown had 18 points and seven rebounds for Lincoln, and Savannah Lane added 10 points.
• Mercer’s season ended with a blowout loss for the second straight year. It was a 39-point loss to Southwestern in a first-round game last year, then this season’s loss to Rockcastle, for which the die was cast when the Lady Rockets scored the game’s first 15 points. It was 50-29 in the third quarter when Rockcastle scored another 15 in a row to put the game far out of reach.
• Jackie Alexander scored 17 points to become the third different goal to lead Rockcastle in scoring in its last three postseason games. Sara Hammond and Sarah Rowe added 14 points each, and Mary Saylor had 13. Loran Crowell led Mercer with eight points, and leading scorer Hayley Spivey, who averages 19 points per game, had only six.
• The championship game will be the fourth meeting this season between Casey and Rockcastle. The Lady Rockets are the only 12th Region team to have beaten Casey this season, having won 66-57 in the 47th District final. Casey won the two regular-season meetings, 49-45 on the road and 66-52 at home.
• This is Casey’s first trip to the regional finals since the Lady Rebels won their only title in 2000. To do that, they defeated Wayne County 64-51. Rockcastle has reached the regional finals for the second time in three years since joining the 12th Region. Two years ago, the Lady Rockets defeated Lincoln County 52-40 in the title game at Lincoln.
• The Other 15: Girls games in five regions and boys games in two regions were postponed Friday night due to the winter storm. Update: As of 1:30 p.m., today’s games had been postponed in 10 of 13 girls regionals and the only two boys regionals scheduled to play. Revised schedules and start times are available on the KHSAA boys and girls scoreboards. … In the girls 4th Region, Bowling Green upset Barren County 48-43 to advance to the title game against Franklin-Simpson. … In the 13th, Clay County clipped Middlesboro 53-46 to reach the final against South Laurel.

Lincoln County officials made the decision at about 12:30 p.m. to go on with the girls 12th Region Tournament semifinals tonight. Click here for details.

Notes and thoughts from day 2 of the boys 12th Region Tournament at Pulaski County:

• Somerset defeated Wayne County 38-33; West Jessamine defeated Boyle County 50-43. Somerset plays West Jessamine in Monday’s second semifinal.
• This was three hours of my life I wish I had back. Several of us watching these grueling games concluded that they were doing their best to set basketball back 30 or 40 years.
• A Somerset team that most had written off after its 47th District title game loss to Pulaski County deserves a good deal of credit for fighting off Wayne. The Briar Jumpers rose to the occasion at least a couple of times in the second half when it looked as if things were starting to go Wayne’s way. There were no style points awarded, but perhaps we should score this one for Somerset’s experience over Wayne’s youth.
• Corey Price led Somerset with 12 points, and Dustin Wells led Wayne with 11. No one else had more than seven, as you might expect.
• As you also might expect, this was the lowest-scoring game in the boys 12th Region in many moons. Nothing in the last 10 years has come close for combined total points, although Wayne’s total equals that scored by McCreary Central in an 84-33 loss to South Laurel in a 2004 first-round game.
• Boyle was held to its lowest point total in 51 games in its loss to West Jessamine. The Rebels also scored 43 in a December 2006 loss to Apollo.
• Boyle was shut out in the first quarter and missed its first nine shots from the field, and the Rebels also went 5-for-14 in the fourth quarter. In between, they were 13-for-19. West Jessamine got off only 29 shots but hit 16 of them.
• In the first meeting between the teams on Dec. 11 (a 65-53 Boyle win at home), the Rebels were 23-for-46 from the field and forced 20 turnovers, which they converted into 23 points. Gulian Blanton, who led West Jessamine with 17 points Thursday — all in the second half on 6-of-7 shooting — was held to four in the first meeting.
• Jared Polson scored 16 points for the Colts, including all nine of their first-quarter points. Christian Williams led Boyle with 11.
• The girls regional resumes tonight at Lincoln County, where the marquee attraction is Lincoln vs. Casey County in the upper bracket semifinal at 6 p.m. Mercer County and Rockcastle County meet in the second semi at 7:45 p.m. Casey beat Lincoln 44-38 in the final game of the regular season for both teams Feb. 22 at Casey. Rockcastle won 73-55 at Mercer on Jan. 28.
• If the weather is tolerable, expect a near-capacity crowd to be in place for the first game. If winter weather strikes and postponement is a possibility, check www.amnews.com for updates.
• If the Friday or Saturday games at Lincoln are postponed, look for officials there to finish the tourney on Sunday if possible. They don’t want to wait until Monday because the winner plays on Wednesday in Bowling Green at the Girls Sweet Sixteen. A Monday-to-Wednesday turnaround happened once before, though, when the March blizzard of 1993 delayed the boys 12th Region final until snowplows could clear 18 to 20 inches of snow from the roads around London. Casey County’s boys beat McCreary Central on Monday night at South Laurel, then played (and lost to) Harlan on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena.
• The Other 15: Leonard Macon, who transferred from Danville to Taylor County early this season, did his best to keep Taylor alive, but the Cardinals fell 72-66 to Bardstown in a 5th Region first-round game. Macon had 16 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots, according to an account on Bluegrasspreps.com. … In the 11th Region, Scott County survived a scare before winning 59-54 at Franklin County. … Anderson County, my pick to win the 8th, lost 63-56 to Gallatin County. … In the 2nd, Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie and Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl watched as Scotty Hopson scored 28 points to lead University Heights over Hopkins County Central 75-48. … And sadly, another season ends quietly at Jackson County, which lost to South Laurel 76-59 in the 13th Region. It’s now 42 years and counting without a trip to the state tourney, but congratulations on a good season to former schoolmate Keith Hays and his team, which finished 22-9.

Steve Watkins, a former assistant coach with the Danville boys soccer team, has been named the head coach of the Somerset girls.

Watkins, who played for Centre College, was out of coaching for two years until he finished out last season as Somerset’s interim coach. He left Danville in 2003 to coach the Pulaski County girls, which he did for two years.

* * *

Two 12th Region teams are ranked in the Kentucky High School Baseball Coaches Association’s preseason top 25 poll, but neither are local teams. Somerset is No. 20; West Jessamine is No. 22. Mercer County, Boyle County, Rockcastle County, Danville and Lincoln County all received votes.

The KHSBCA’s preseason all-state team includes Matthew Robertson of Mercer County, as well as Somerset’s John Cole.