Bluegrassrivals

So glad to that they won!! Justin Epperson led the way with 18 points for the Warriors! This team has a great group of seniors and could possibly be the darkhorse of this tournament!! Congrats Southwestern!!

Game 2: Southwestern rallies past Hoptown

Southwestern, playing in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school history, looked shaky early but came on strong and beat Hopkinsville 52-41 in the first round of the state tournament in Rupp Arena Wednesday afternoon.

Southwestern Coach Steve Wright is no stranger here, though. He’s in his first season with the Warriors after 21 years at South Laurel, which he took to 6 state tournaments and won a state title in 2005. He also brought Laurel County to the Sweet Sixteen once.

Hopkinsville led 17-8 early in the second quarter before the game turned around. Southwestern closed the half on a 12-0 run to take a 20-17 lead. The Warriors continued to roll in the second half, eventually outscoring Hoptown 22-2.

Justin Epperson led the winners with 18 points and 6 rebounds. Justin Edwards and David Kapinga had 10 points each. Edwards also had 12 rebounds as Southwestern advanced to play Rowan County in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Hopkinsville was led by junior Jordan Majors’ 18 points. Demarius Henry had 10 points. The Tigers had a rough shooting day — they were 15-for-53 (28%) — and they had 25 turnovers.

Congrats Southwestern

Congratulations Warriors in picking up the win in your first Sweet Sixteen appearance.

This was a total team effort!! J. Epp played one heck of a game!! He wasn't going to be denied! Marlow hit a big three at the end of the first half that boosted SW!! C. Epp and Rob Lewis were quiet on the offensive side but played excellent defense and both took couple charges a piece! Rob also got the team rebounding when he came in the game!! Seniors led this teams today! Congrats Warriors on the win!!

Congrats to the Warriors on the historic victory!

What a game for senior Justin Epperson. He didn't start, but he came off of the bench and played lights out.

See you all at Rupp on Friday!

Which kid is it that wright recruited from Canada?

wildthang3 Wrote:Which kid is it that wright recruited from Canada?

All of them. The team is 100% Canadian. They all have maple syrup coursing through their veins.

It's funny when he was at Sl everyone at Sw complained bc he got kids to "move" in, if you cant beat em join em I guess ehhhh....?!

Congrats to the SW fans

wildthang3 Wrote:It's funny when he was at Sl everyone at Sw complained bc he got kids to "move" in, if you cant beat em join em I guess ehhhh....?!

I'm not from Southwestern...

Just when Hopkinsville seemed ready to deliver a knockout punch, the Tigers took a haymaker on the chin.

Southwestern rallied from a nine-point deficit to score 14 in a row en route to a 52-41 first-round victory Wednesday in the PNC/KHSAA Boys' State Basketball Tournament in Rupp Arena.

"They were just really good," Southwestern Coach Steve Wright said of Hopkinsville. "Sometimes you can't control the flow of the game. We felt like if the game got too fast, we were in trouble. We did a pretty good job of keeping the tempo where we wanted it.

"We shot like I used to about the first five minutes of the game and, after that, we played pretty good. We got it in the basket and did a good job. Our defense was solid."

Justin Epperson came off the bench to lead the Warriors with 18 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes. Justin Edwards and David Kapinga scored 10 each and combined for seven steals, with Edwards grabbing 10 rebounds.

Hopkinsville (32-3) got 18 points from Jordan Majors and 10 from Demarius Henry. Laurence Smith and Kenyon Wheeler grabbed seven rebounds each.

Southwestern (28-8) made only one of its first nine field-goal attempts, yet trailed only 7-6 after one quarter.

Hoptown, after going 3-for-12 in the first quarter, scored 10 of the first 12 points of the second quarter to lead 17-8.

Coach Tim Haworth sensed problems, though.

"I could tell real early, even when we were up 17-10," he said. "I didn't really have a good feel for how we were playing. I thought we hurried everything."

The Tigers were on their way to shooting 15-for-53 (28.3 percent) and turning the ball over 25 times.

Southwestern scored the last 12 points of the half and the first hoop of the third quarter to lead 22-17.

"We had played a little tentatively and we had left Majors a couple times," Wright said. "We took a timeout and addressed that. We really showed some maturity and stepped back on the floor and went after him, and really played well defensively. They were right on the verge of getting away from us."

Epperson's tip-in started the 14-0 run. Before it was over, he added two assists.

"Coach always tells us 'just go in and play hard and rebound,'" Epperson said. "So if I get rebounds, it gives my teammates opportunities."

Kapinga scored six of the 14. Daulton Marlow hit a three-pointer, Isaiah Collier had two points and Edwards had one.

Southwestern handled Hoptown's defensive pressure and pushed the lead to 14 early in the fourth quarter.

"We had a good play against the press they gave us and we just executed well," Kapinga said. "Pass the ball, find the open man, cut and just communicate."

Hoptown cut the gap to six, 41-35, when Majors hit two free throws with 3:14 left.

That's as close as the Tigers came, though, as Edwards scored from in close and Epperson knocked down four consecutive free throws.

"It was a tough night for us offensively. Probably the worst game we've played offensively all year," Haworth said. "You shoot 28 percent for the game, it's going to be tough to beat anybody that's good. I thought our kids fought back, played extremely hard. We just didn't get the job done offensively."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/14/21098...rylink=cpy