The afternoon session of the 99th annual Whitaker Bank Boy’s Sweet 16 continued the trend of tight games from the previous evening.
South Laurel pulled the first upset of the tournament when they downed Christian County in a see saw game that was in doubt until the final seconds.
Doss stifled three runs from a gusty Lawrence County squad and showed remarkable fortitude in doing so, even when the Bulldogs took a brief lead during the 4th quarter.
Taylor County scored the most points in a Sweet 16 game since Scott County in 2000 in their lopsided victory over Mason County.
Also, the South Oldham Dragons won their first ever Sweet 16 game after bowing out in the first round in their two previous appearances.
March 17th Scores
Doss 66, Lawrence County 57
South Laurel 53, Christian County 50
Taylor County 94, Mason County 65
South Oldham 58, Owensboro Catholic 34
March 18th Preview
Murray (30-5) vs. Newport Central Catholic (29-4)
Newport Central Catholic’s Ben Weyer completely dominated the paint against Trinity in the Thoroughbreds win in the opening round on Wednesday. Weyer’s four first half blocks spooked Trinity and the Shamrocks settled for outside shoots during a scoring slump that last over two quarters.
Trinity did not have an answer for Weyer, but Murray just might. Tre Hornbuckle scored 17 points in the Tigers win over Buckhorn and proved to be too physical for the smaller Wildcats to handle. If he is able to reproduce that kind of performance than Murray has an excellent chance to hang with the Breds’. Of course, another 21 point performance from Preston English would bolster the Tigers’ chances as well.
P.L Dunbar (30-6) vs. Bowling Green (31-2)
Will Hager of Mercer County burned the Dunbar Bulldogs all game long on Wednesday with drives to the basket. Coach Scott Chalk could not have been happy with that, especially because Bowling Green’s DeAngelo Wilson is a quick, crafty guard who has potential to wear down the Bulldogs backcourt.
However, Wilson is just one challenge that the Bulldogs will face. The Purples Terry Taylor was a load in the paint against Elliott County. Dunbar doesn’t have anyone to balance out his comparable bulk so the Bulldogs backcourt will need to come up big.
Taveion Hollingsworth of Dunbar played a sensational game in the Bulldogs war against Mercer County. However, expecting him to have another 32 point output is unreasonable. Teammate Darius Williams must rebound from an off game and play up to his usual level. If he does so then Dunbar will be difficult for the Purples to defend.
Doss (28-5) vs. Taylor County (25-8)
Doss beat Taylor County by 12 points earlier in the season, but the Cardinals are a vastly improved team since they started the season 7-7.
The Cardinals have the best player on the floor, Quentin Goodin and can put up points in bunches. However, they gave up several big runs to Mason County on Thursday night. That simply cannot happen against Doss.
The Dragons are a high scoring team and get up and down the floor. They also played with great deal of patience and poise when Lawrence County made several runs during the Doss’ opening round win. If the Dragons make this a half-court game then Taylor County will struggle.
South Laurel (28-6) vs. South Oldham (29-5)
If the Dragons are going to advance then they will need to tickle the twine from deep. However, if there shots don’t fall then South Oldham will be in trouble.
South Laurel has Caleb Taylor, a real bruiser, in the paint while the Dragons are a guard heavy team and are vulnerable down low.