Bears escape Edmonson concede to Cougars in Championship

 

 

By Greg Moore

Banner Sports Editor

 

The 12^th District basketball tournament was staged in Whitesville at the new gymnasium, the Horn Community Center. Although limited in capacity, the atmosphere was spirited with competition for the Butler County fans and others.

The Bears played a determined Edmonson County Wildcats on Wednesday after the Cougars of Grayson County beat the host team, Trinity, easily the night before. The Wildcats fought tooth and nail throughout the first half, going back and forth with Butler County.

Ty Price found an open Justin Castlen, who showed no signs of being hampered with an ankle injury, for a three pointer within seconds of starting the game. Although the full-court pressure was causing turnovers, points were hard to come by early on. However, as the first went on, the Wildcats and Bears started connecting blows.

Neither team could pull away from the other in the first half; it was never more than four-point difference in favor of either. The Bears found themselves clinging to a two-point advantage at the half against the Wildcats, who were determined an upset was capable.

Throughout most of the third, Butler County identified themselves. They pulled ahead as much as 14 points; nonetheless, the Wildcats were not acceptable to laying down. Behind juniors, Tyler Wilson and Owen Ruth, the Wildcats clawed themselves right back into the game. Wilson made several moves to get into the paint and Ruth is a scrapper to clean up everything he can.

Early fourth quarter, Edmonson County presented themselves with a chance to regain the lead. That opportunity succumbed to an unforced turnover. The Bears kept pushing it back to multiple possessions from there out. Price, who shot 20 free throws altogether, would seal the deal at the charity stripe to end the game.

The 78-68 victory over Edmonson set the platform for the Bears to advance onto the third region tournament; however, in a matchup for the 12^th District championship title, Butler County would have to face an equally talented Grayson County Cougars team, who they split with on the regular season. Like the Bears, they are experienced with several leaders on the squad.

Jack Logsdon, a junior, scored 13 first quarter points and ten of the first 16 for the Cougars to establish the tone for the game. After starting the game 9-0, the crowd of orange were on their feet as the Bears fought to keep the game into single digits. Two, Case Hooten to Castlen assists, got BC within half-dozen; then, Coach Dockery called a timeout with over two minutes left in the first.

 

 

Grayson County came right back to hit a three-pointer following the 30 second break. Following two freebies for Grayson, Briar Griffin found Curtis Murphy before Logsdon made a sick, and-one through all kinds of contact to cap off his explosive start.

Butler County managed to get down by as many 20 points in the second quarter when with around nearly the same amount of time remaining as it was in the first, Coach Dockery used his second timeout of the game; this one a full, one-minute timeout. Trever Deweese responded with a three and Price would as well before they went to the locker rooms.

Grayson County was comfortable with the Bears scrambling to find a way to stop Logsdon over intermission. The home team on the scoreboard and number one seed hit five threes to start the second half to exhibit their versatility. Although down by 22 when Coach Dockery was forced to stop the bleeding with a timeout, his Bears came back out with purpose.

Things became chirpy, if it wasn’t already, when Kadin Hanshaw reached in after a Deweese rebound and slung him to the floor. Another Cougar would throw the ball at Castlen after a foul. Griffin, who tends to thrive in that environment, found Murphy for a dime, hit a three, and finished the third with another bucket to end the third quarter, down by only 13.

Hanshaw would pick up a technical in the fourth, early on. Price, a 90% free-throw shooter, missed both attempts, which excited the Grayson County crowd ever more so. Griffin would get a rebound put back to get Bears within nine with six minutes to play. Unfortunately, the Bears could not score for almost the next four minutes.

It was a little too late to make a rally after the drought, but the Bears never quit fighting. And these young men are not done battling. They earned the right to face the winner of the Owensboro district, the Daviess County Panthers. The same draw the Bears had in last year’s third region tournament; except this year’s Panthers won the 9^th, and Butler is runner-ups in the 12^th.

The Daviess-Butler matchup will kick off the tournament at the Sportscenter in Owensboro Wednesday night at 6pm. If the Bears, who lost to the Panthers in regular season by seven, can survive the first-round battle, they will face the winner of Breckinridge-Muhlenberg on Saturday, same place and time, in the semifinals. Championship is staged for Tuesday, 7pm.

 

Edmonson          22           15           16           15           68

Bears                     24           15           19           20           78

Price 39, Castlen 20, Griffin 9, Deweese 8, Hooten 2

 

Bears                     12           9              22           17           60

Grayson               24           13           19           14           70

Price 25, Griffin 13, Castlen 10, Deweese 8, Murphy 5