Championship Previews: Tuesday Games

<p>With McCracken County, Scott County, Fern Creek, Knox Central and Martin County already having punched their tickets to Rupp Arena next week, there are 11 more champions to be decided tonight. Here’s a breakdown of all 11 games.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>2nd Region</strong></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">:</span> <strong>Madisonville-North Hopkins vs Webster County</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: Madisonville is 30-3 on the season and riding a 19 game win streak into the title game. Webster County is 27-5 and winners of 6 straight. These two teams did not play each other in the regular season.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: Hunter McNaughton vs [player_tooltip player_id="915105" first="Ksuan" last="Casey"]. McNaughton is not as big as Casey but is as physical. Look for these two to do battle all night if they’re allowed to be physical in the post. Foul trouble for either could be a game changer.</p> <p>Prediction: Madisonville 68, Webster County 62</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>3rd Region:</strong></span> <strong>Owensboro Catholic vs Owensboro</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape:Catholic is 20-14. Owensboro is 21-10 and coming in as winners of 6 in a row. Owensboro won their first meeting by 2 in OT, second game by 22 and district championship by 16 two weeks ago.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: Jaiden Greathouse vs [player_tooltip player_id="926896" first="JiArius" last="Webb"]. The long and athletic Webb takes on the bruising Greathouse. Ji is long and athletic and Jaiden reminds of his uncle Justin Miller. The contrast in styles should be fun to watch.</p> <p>Prediction: Owensboro 62, Owensboro Catholic 52</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>4th</strong></span><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> Region</span>: Warren Central vs Bowling Green</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: The Dragons are 25-7 and the Purples are 26-7. The three previous games were decided by 17 (BG Win), 6 (WC win) and 6 (BG win) in the district title game. </p> <p>Matchup to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="915110" first="Dre" last="Boyd"] vs every BG defender. In the lone win of the 3 against BG, Boyd had 29 points and was basically unstoppable. The other two matchups have only yielded 39 points combined for the 4th region player of the year. Boyd is the key for a WC win.</p> <p>Prediction: Warren Central 60, Bowling Green 54</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>5th</strong></span><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> Region</span>: Elizabethtown vs Bardstown</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape:E-Town is 26-3. Bardstown is 25-8 and winners of 6 in a row. The two teams played on Valentine’s Day, a 17 point win for the Panthers at Bardstown.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="915136" first="JaRel" last="Montgomery"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="530678" first="JaQuais" last="Franklin"]. Montgomery is the engine that makes Bardstown go. Franklin is one of the best players in the 2021 class. Whichever player wins the point guard battle is likely to win the game.</p> <p>Prediction: Elizabethtown 77, Bardstown 70</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>7th</strong></span><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> Region</span>: Male vs Ballard</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: Male is 30-4 and have won 15 straight games. Ballard is 28-6 and winners of 5 straight. Ballard beat Male on January 17th then Male beat Ballard 76-67 on the 31st. </p> <p>Matchup to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="932766" first="Gabe" last="Sisk"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="783045" first="Tyren" last="Moore"]. The high scoring freshman Sisk is going to have his hands full on defense against Tyren. Moore is one of the best scorers in the state but will have to be able to keep Sisk out of the paint on the other end of the floor.</p> <p>Prediction: Male 81, Ballard 70</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>8th Region:</strong></span><strong> Collins vs Oldham County</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: Collins is 26-7 while Oldham is 30-3. Oldham handed Collins their last loss back on February 11th.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="923036" first="Deaton" last="Oak"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="915103" first="Marcellus" last="Vail"]. Oak is a lot like Vail as a wing shooter who can heat up quickly. Vail is the better athlete of the two. Their head to head battle could determine who gets to Rupp next week.</p> <p>Prediction:Collins 53, Oldham County 48</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>9th Region:</strong></span><strong> Covington Catholic vs Highlands</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: Cov Cath is 28-5 and hold a 65-39 win over Highlands back on February 1st. Highlands is 28-3 on the year.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="793828" first="Sam" last="Vinson"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="601450" first="Grant" last="Disken"]. Disken is the 9th region player of the year and Vinson has had a huge season. Grant had 25 points the last time they met while Vinson was held to 7 points on 1-9 shooting.</p> <p>Prediction: Cov Cath 68, Highlands 64</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>10th Region:</strong></span><strong> George Rogers Clark vs Montgomery County</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: GRC is 27-7 while Montgomery is 22-12. GRC has won by 7 and 9 in the regular season and 9 in the district championship recently.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="783088" first="Lincoln" last="Bush"] vs Rickey Lovette. Lovette had a huge game last night with 28 points and 20 rebounds. Bush had 10 points and 16 rebounds in the other semifinal. If Bush can keep Rickey off the boards, the Cardinals should win.</p> <p>Prediction: GRC 73, Montgomery 68</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>12th Region:</strong></span><strong> West Jessamine vs Danville</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: West Jessamine is 20-11 with 5 straight wins. Danville is 23-12 and lost the last time these two teams met, 67-49 way back on December 10th.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: Nate Breeden vs [player_tooltip player_id="923018" first="Dante" last="Hayden"]. In a battle of shooters, Breeden comes in tonight after making 6 of 9 last night while Hayden is shooting 34% on the season but capable of getting hot in a hurry.</p> <p>Prediction: West Jessamine  62, Danville 59</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>14th Region:</strong></span><strong> Hazard vs Wolfe County</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: Hazard is 28-5 while Wolfe is 21-9. Hazard has beaten Wolfe by 3 and 16 in their previous two meetings.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: [player_tooltip player_id="923020" first="Wade" last="Pelfrey"] vs [player_tooltip player_id="923014" first="Jaz" last="Johnson"]. Pelfrey is a scoring combo guard averaging 16.1 points per game while Johnson is a scoring combo guard averaging 16 per game. Whichever guard outplays the other could be cutting the nets down at the end of the night.</p> <p>Prediction: Hazard 62, Wolfe County 56</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>16th Regio</strong></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>n:</strong></span><strong> Lewis County vs Ashland Blazer</strong></p> <p>Tale of the Tape: Lewis County is 18-15 while Ashland Blazer is up to 32-0 now. The Tomcats beat Lewis by 32 on opening night back in December.</p> <p>Matchup to Watch: Sam O’Keefe vs everybody. The 16th region nominee for Mr Basketball is averaging 23.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game but Lewis may need even more production than that to knock off the undefeated Tomcats.</p> <p>Prediction: Ashland 75, Lewis County 50</p>