Championship Previews: Monday Games

<p>With McCracken County and Scott County already having punched their tickets to Rupp Arena next week, there are 3 more champions to be decided tonight. Here’s a breakdown of all 3 games.</p> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">6th Region:</span> Fern Creek vs Jeffersontown (at Valley)</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: Fern Creek comes in at 27-6 overall and riding a 14 game winning streak and haven’t lost since the LIT Championship game. Jeffersontown is 21-8 overall. This is the 4th game between the Tigers and Chargers with Fern Creek winning all 3 previous games by margins of 10, 9 and 6 points.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="922990" first="Jaden" last="Rogers"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="793767" first="Jaylen" last="Fairman"]. Two of the best point guards in the state are also two of the best prospects in the 2021 class. Fairman is more of a distributor while Rogers is a scoring point but the winner of this game is likely to be whichever point guard performs better.</p> <p>X Factors: [player_tooltip player_id="922998" first="Cearius" last="Warren"] (Fern Creek) and Trevis Oglesvy (J-Town). Both players are transfer post players as Warren arrived from Southern and Oglesvy appeared at J-Town after spending the last 3 seasons playing in Indiana. Both are big bodies but Oglesvy is going to have to help contain Warren and [player_tooltip player_id="922993" first="Darrius" last="Washington"] on the block. If Warren can put together a double-double or better for the Tigers, you have to like their chances against J-Town.</p> <p>Prediction: Fern Creek wins 58-52</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>13th</strong></span><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> Region:</span> Harlan County vs Knox Central (at Corbin Arena)</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: Harlan County comes in at 24-10 and riding a 5 game winning streak while Knox Central is 24-8 with a 4 game winning streak. Knox Central beat Harlan County 70-59 back on January 2nd (at Knox). </p> <p>Matchup to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="923006" first="Jevonte" last="Turner"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="939116" first="Trent" last="Noah"]. Jevonte is a dynamic combo guard who can play on or off the ball but is at his best going downhill and attacking the rim. Noah is starting at the point guard spot as an 8th grader. Noah’s size can give Turner some problems but there are questions about how well he can guard someone as athletic as Turner.</p> <p>X Factors: Taylor Spurlock (Harlan County) and Zach Patterson (Knox). Spurlock is the leading scorer for HC and is a match-up nightmare at 6’7. If he is making threes tonight, Harlan will be hard to guard. Patterson is a do it all weapon for the Panthers. If he can get close to his average of 15 points per game, Knox has a good chance to cut the nets tonight.</p> <p>Prediction: Knox Central 74, Harlan County 62</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>15th</strong></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> Region:</span><b> Martin County vs Lawrence County (at Appalachian Wireless Arena)</b></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: Martin County is 21-12 and brings a 12 game winning streak into the title game. Lawrence is 22-11 and has won 4 in a row to get to this point. Martin County beat Lawrence 74-42 on 12/6 and 61-53 on 2/4.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="915165" first="Tyler" last="Maynard"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="801606" first="Brady" last="Dingess"]. The two highest scorers for their respective teams, it remains to be seen if they will actually guard each other but the scoring load is going to fall on both of them. Maynard probably needs to score 30+ for Lawrence to win. </p> <p>X-Factors: [player_tooltip player_id="922994" first="Trey" last="James"] (Martin County) and Cody Maynard (Lawrence). Trey has been very consistent all year. The X-factor there is if Lawrence can get him in foul trouble. Cody Maynard has been the second best scorer on the team all season long but if there were a time for him to break out, it’s now. A big game could go a long way towards a championship win. </p> <p>Prediction: Martin County 68, Lawrence County 64</p>