03-03-2012, 08:56 PM
03-03-2012, 10:52 PM
This game didn't start out good for west but hats off to them for not laying down.
03-04-2012, 11:26 AM
MOREHEAD — With Jason Egan red-hot shooting the ball and Rowan County managing a comfortable first-half lead, Adam Wing was perfectly content with his role of rebounder and defensive stopper.
However after West Carter surged back in the third quarter taking a one-point lead into the final quarter, the senior turned his focus to the offensive end.
Wing scored all 12 of his points in the final 12 minutes and 20 seconds of Saturday’s semifinal matchup with West Carter, helping the Vikings to their second consecutive 16th Region Tournament championship game appearance with a 47-38 victory at Morehead State’s Ellis T. Johnson Arena.
The Vikings will face Ashland in the championship game Monday night at 7.
“This can’t happen, they can’t beat us,” Wing said after the Comets had taken the lead. “I just said I have to take over. They kept feeding me the ball and I made shots to help us win the game.”
Rowan County coach Shawn Thacker said he challenged Wing at halftime to be more aggressive.
“I challenged him and said ‘We have done all this without you being a player,’’’ the coach said. “‘You have to step up to the plate and play. You can’t be getting rebounds and passing up shots. I need you to score the ball.’”
Wing made his final five shots after missing his first five attempts.
After Caleb Whitt’s 3-pointer gave West Carter a one-point lead at 31-30 and all the momentum, a string of Comet turnovers at the beginning fourth quarter allowed Rowan County to retake the lead.
“We turned the ball over in some crucial situations out front, when we really needed a good shot,” West Carter coach Jeremy Webb said. “Those are the situations when you really need to turn your offense over a few times get a high percentage look, but unfortunately we turned it over a few times.”
Thacker thought that the Vikings ramped up their defensive effort in the fourth quarter.
“Defensively we were great tonight,” Thacker said. “Phillip Hodge played a little bit in the first half, but when we went to him I think he really sparked us. He was able to force some turnovers for us.”
Rowan County (24-7) converted the miscues into eight points in the final eight minutes building a seven-point lead at 43-36, before closing out the game from the free throw line.
West Carter (25-8) fell behind early trailing 16-2 after the first quarter, but outscored the Vikings 29-14 over the next 16 minutes.
“It is tough to dig yourself out of that kind of hole. It was looking pretty bad there for a while.” Webb said. “But that just shows the grit and determination of this team. That is just their competitive nature. They have done that all year. They get down and then fight back. It just shows something about their personality.”
Thacker knew that West Carter would make a run and tried to warn his team.
“They are so tough mentally, so hard-nosed, and so resilient,” he said. “To see them get back in the game I was not surprised at all. I told my team we have to play with the same heart as they have and match their intensity. If we don’t do that it won’t matter about athletic ability, because heart will win out.”
Kyle Brown helped spur the Comet comeback scoring all nine of his points in the second quarter, but his play was limited in the second half due to foul trouble.
While it was Brown that did the scoring for West Carter in the first, it was Egan that powered the Viking offense. He scored 13 of his 17 points in the opening frame.
But it was the senior’s defense that impressed his teammate.
“In the first half he played incredible,” Wing said. “He was the reason that our defense was so effective. He deserves a lot of credit for the win.”
Rowan County’s defense held the West Carter trio of Derek Lawson, Travis Duvall, and Cody Stamper to 2-of-20 from the field. Lawson had both field goals and finished with nine points.
“I don’t really think they forced anything. They allowed everybody to get involved, and we moved the ball pretty well,” Webb said. “But when you shoot 28 percent for the game, you are not going to get it done. You have to give the defense of Rowan County a lot of credit for that.”
Viking point guard D.J. Townsend did a good job of finding the hot hand, whether it was Egan or Wing, but still managed to score 16 points of his own.http://dailyindependent.com/localsports/...g-heats-up
However after West Carter surged back in the third quarter taking a one-point lead into the final quarter, the senior turned his focus to the offensive end.
Wing scored all 12 of his points in the final 12 minutes and 20 seconds of Saturday’s semifinal matchup with West Carter, helping the Vikings to their second consecutive 16th Region Tournament championship game appearance with a 47-38 victory at Morehead State’s Ellis T. Johnson Arena.
The Vikings will face Ashland in the championship game Monday night at 7.
“This can’t happen, they can’t beat us,” Wing said after the Comets had taken the lead. “I just said I have to take over. They kept feeding me the ball and I made shots to help us win the game.”
Rowan County coach Shawn Thacker said he challenged Wing at halftime to be more aggressive.
“I challenged him and said ‘We have done all this without you being a player,’’’ the coach said. “‘You have to step up to the plate and play. You can’t be getting rebounds and passing up shots. I need you to score the ball.’”
Wing made his final five shots after missing his first five attempts.
After Caleb Whitt’s 3-pointer gave West Carter a one-point lead at 31-30 and all the momentum, a string of Comet turnovers at the beginning fourth quarter allowed Rowan County to retake the lead.
“We turned the ball over in some crucial situations out front, when we really needed a good shot,” West Carter coach Jeremy Webb said. “Those are the situations when you really need to turn your offense over a few times get a high percentage look, but unfortunately we turned it over a few times.”
Thacker thought that the Vikings ramped up their defensive effort in the fourth quarter.
“Defensively we were great tonight,” Thacker said. “Phillip Hodge played a little bit in the first half, but when we went to him I think he really sparked us. He was able to force some turnovers for us.”
Rowan County (24-7) converted the miscues into eight points in the final eight minutes building a seven-point lead at 43-36, before closing out the game from the free throw line.
West Carter (25-8) fell behind early trailing 16-2 after the first quarter, but outscored the Vikings 29-14 over the next 16 minutes.
“It is tough to dig yourself out of that kind of hole. It was looking pretty bad there for a while.” Webb said. “But that just shows the grit and determination of this team. That is just their competitive nature. They have done that all year. They get down and then fight back. It just shows something about their personality.”
Thacker knew that West Carter would make a run and tried to warn his team.
“They are so tough mentally, so hard-nosed, and so resilient,” he said. “To see them get back in the game I was not surprised at all. I told my team we have to play with the same heart as they have and match their intensity. If we don’t do that it won’t matter about athletic ability, because heart will win out.”
Kyle Brown helped spur the Comet comeback scoring all nine of his points in the second quarter, but his play was limited in the second half due to foul trouble.
While it was Brown that did the scoring for West Carter in the first, it was Egan that powered the Viking offense. He scored 13 of his 17 points in the opening frame.
But it was the senior’s defense that impressed his teammate.
“In the first half he played incredible,” Wing said. “He was the reason that our defense was so effective. He deserves a lot of credit for the win.”
Rowan County’s defense held the West Carter trio of Derek Lawson, Travis Duvall, and Cody Stamper to 2-of-20 from the field. Lawson had both field goals and finished with nine points.
“I don’t really think they forced anything. They allowed everybody to get involved, and we moved the ball pretty well,” Webb said. “But when you shoot 28 percent for the game, you are not going to get it done. You have to give the defense of Rowan County a lot of credit for that.”
Viking point guard D.J. Townsend did a good job of finding the hot hand, whether it was Egan or Wing, but still managed to score 16 points of his own.http://dailyindependent.com/localsports/...g-heats-up
03-04-2012, 11:27 AM
![[Image: g00025800000000000050204da27461c01ba9519...c3c9a7.jpg]](http://d6673sr63mbv7.cloudfront.net/archive/x579802930/g00025800000000000050204da27461c01ba9519a870490a16d78c3c9a7.jpg){kind=link}
03-04-2012, 09:12 PM
Glad to see Rowan advance! I figured that West Carter would be able to put up a better fight than what they did but, Rowan was obviously motivated! Congrats Vikings!