16th Region Report

A short and sweet update this week.

16th Region All 'A' Classic underway
Fairview, who has the luxury of hosting of the event, changed their defensive strategy Saturday mid game, and it resulted in coming back from 13 down, and taking 62-56 victory over the Cougars of Morgan County. The Serbian Express, Jagos Lasic , had another
good performance, scoring 17 in the affair in Westwood. Fairview's Mike Terry played through smothering defense to still put up 21 points in the stat line. However, the big story may not be the turn-around due to defensive intensity in this one, but the fact that 8th grader Jordan Perry also put in 17 for the 'Cougs. The Eagles will meet up with Elliot County Tuesday night in 'The Wood, after the Lions subdued Raceland in their first round match-up, 70-65.

One thing is for certain, Ashland's athletic programs have not shyed away from playing out of state powers this season. Just like in football, the Tomcats welcomed a West Virginia power into town. Saturday night, The WV Class AA power Tug Valley Cougars came roaring into Anderson Gymnasium, and showed the Tomcats who the bigger cat was that evening(The two teams met last season as well, with Tug Valley taking that one too, in West Virginia). Tug Valley at one point built a 19 point lead, and Blazer could never get close enough to threaten in this game. The T-Cats did manage to cut it to 13. However, Ashland's biggest obstacle in this one was by no means talent level. It was shooting. Poor shooting. The Tomcats shot a miserable 29% on 15 for 51. The Cougars, on the other hand, shot 64% from the field.  Even with foul trouble, including their big gun Mason Pack, Tug Valley was still able to operate efficiently thanks to their bench picking up the slack. Ashland was led by Corey Gregg's 20 points, thanks in  most part, to his 11-16 night at the foul line. He also pulled down 10 rebounds. Zach Hart and Cody Withrow also had 13 a piece for Blazer. The Cougar's Austin Brewer led the Cougars with 17, and was a perfect 3 for 3 from three point range. Final Score, 74-57.

The region's best West Carter, keeps on rolling. In their opener of the All 'A' Classic, West Carter used 21 from Kyle Brown to blow out the Wildcats of Bath County 62-39.  The Comets played a complete game of team ball to steak past the cats. West will now face Menifee County in the semi-finals of the Classic, Monday night at Cooksey Memorial Gym in Westwood.

Greenup County finally got the pressure it was lacking on defense to come out in the final 5 minutes of it's game Friday in Vanceburg, to finally put down Lewis County, 54-37. The Lions would just not go away, climbing back from every lead Greenup had built. The Musketeers used runs of 11-0 and 14-3 to keep control of the contest. Lewis would battle back several times during the course of the evening, finally getting within 5 points with a little over 7 minutes to play behind a 3 by Brett Ruckel. However, he was countered on the other end by Greenup's Justin Bond, whose 3 would spark the previously mentioned 14-3 run. At which point, Greenup County amped up the defensive pressure, and with a little under 6 left to play, held The Lions to one point. Greenup's Dustin Linthicum recorded a double-double of 15 and 14, and was joined by Tanner Willis and Darius Jackson who added 10 and 15 points of their own. Ruckel led Lewis County with 18.  The Musketeers hit the pavement again today, traveling to Maysville to play St. Patrick. Greenup has played 14 of it's 18 games on the road.