Bluegrassrivals

Final!


WOW!

Way to go Southwestern. For all of those fans that were saying that the 12th region was one of the weakest...Keep representing the region well.

OMG!!!!
Congratulations to the Warriors!!!!


Where is GetChili???? He's probably drunk!!

LEXINGTON, KY. — One of only 17 coaches with more than 600 career wins, Steve Wright is one of most successful coaches in Kentucky history.

But on Friday, Wright accomplished something that left even him a bit speechless in the postgame news conference at Rupp Arena.

In his first season at Pulaski Southwestern, Wright has guided the Warriors into the semifinals of the PNC/KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16 with a 67-57 victory over Rowan County in the semifinals before about 15,000 fans in Rupp Arena.

“Special,” Wright said, after collecting his thoughts.

Wright, who led South Laurel to the 2005 Sweet 16 title, has helped Southwestern to the semifinals in the school’s first Sweet 16 trip. The Warriors will play the Trinity-Clark County winner on Saturday morning.

“When you stay at a place like I did for so long it’s a tough decision to leave,” Wright said about leaving South Laurel after last season. “I felt blessed to be there as long as I was, but it was the best thing for me.

“It’s been a great situation, and I am just so happy for the school and the community. It’s a great place and it’s tremendous for them.”

The Warriors made it into the semifinals in style.

Southwestern used a 13-0 run early in the fourth quarter to break open a tight game and then hit free throws to knock out the Vikings, who made it to the state tournament championship game last year.

“Our kids played excellent defense and rebounded the ball,” Wright said. “It was hard to scout them because it was like watching ourselves. They’re a very good team. We had to rebound, stop penetration and guard their shooters.”

Rowan County (26-8) did hit 11 of 30 from three-point range but managed to hit just 18 of 52 (34.6 percent) from the field overall. Southwestern was 17 of 45 shooting but hit 28 of 37 free throws, including 18 of 20 in the fourth quarter.

And it was free throws that started the run.

After Rowan County scored the final eight points of the third quarter, D.J. Townsend scored for the Vikings to make it 47-45 with 7:12 left.

But Justin Epperson and Justin Schulz started the run with two free throws apiece before Justin Edwards hit a short jumper to make it 51-47. Rowan County didn’t score for 5:25 when Adam Wing hit a three-pointer but by then it was 58-50.

“We gave them the lead (with free throws) and then it was an uphill battle,” Rowan County coach Shawn Thacker said. “We just turned the ball over too many times during that stretch and didn’t get many quality shots.”

The Warriors ends it with 7 of 8 free throws to seal it.

Guard David Kapinga led Southwestern with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals on 5 of 9 shooting. Edwards added 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Cody Epperson had 13 and was 7 of 8 on free throws.

Townsend led Rowan County with 19. Wing, named one of the five finalists for Mr. Basketball at halftime, was 2 of 13 and had five points and 10 rebounds.

http://saxo.highschoolsports.net/section...le?site=B2

[IMG]Steve Wright had bigger fish to fry than to fret about coaching against his former assistant, Shawn Thacker. "I like Shawn a lot, care about him a great deal," Wright said. "But I was a lot more worried about (Adam) Wing, (D.J.) Townsend and (Jason) Egan." Wright's focus paid off as his Southwestern Warriors rode a 13-0 fourth-quarter flurry to a 67-57 win over Thacker's Rowan County Vikings. Southwestern, on its first trip to the PNC/KHSAA Boys' State Basketball Tournament, thus advanced to Saturday's semifinals in Rupp Arena. Rowan (26-8) was derailed in its bid to return to the championship game, where it lost to Christian County in double overtime last year. David Kapinga, a 5-foot-9 sophomore and a native of Congo, led Southwestern (29-8) with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals. "I haven't been in a situation like this, but it feels great being here," Kapinga said. "A lot of pressure on you. But you live for pressure. You live to execute." Justin Edwards had a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Cody Epperson chipped in with 14 points. Rowan County got 19 points from Townsend and 16 from Egan. Wing, who was 12-for-13 from three-point range in last year's semifinals and finals, grabbed 10 rebounds and had five assists, but was held to five points. "I'm disappointed in myself going 2-for-13 from the field," the 6-foot-4 Evansville recruit said. "I felt like there was, I guess, a lot of pressure on me to perform the way I did last year. I tried not to think about that as much as I could, but I just let these guys down shooting the way I did." The Vikings scored the last eight points of the third quarter to tie the game at 45, then got a fast-break basket by Townsend to lead 47-45. Everything went South(western) after that. The Warriors scored the next 13 points to lead 58-47. Justin Epperson scored five of his nine points during that stretch. Kapinga added four. Edwards and Justin Schulz had two each. "We've been really mentally tough from the standpoint that whenever someone makes a run, we answer it," Wright said. "We've been that way for weeks. We made some changes in our defense in the fourth quarter because they were starting to find seams and do some things to us. And we just got more aggressive offensively. "We didn't have a great first half, and I think our kids were very confident at halftime that we were going to get it together in the second half. And our defense and our rebounding allowed us to stay in the game." Rowan went 5:25 without scoring, going 0-for-3 from the field and committing seven of its 18 turnovers. Wing ended the drought with a three-pointer, but only 1:46 remained. The Vikings never came closer than seven points as Southwestern scored its last 11 points at the free-throw line. Overall, the Warriors made 28 of 37 free throws — 18-for-22 in the fourth quarter. "Free throw's just concentration," said Edwards, who went 5-for-6 at the line. "You just step up there, relax and shoot them." Rowan made 10 of 16 free throws. "We were stuck on 45 for too long," Thacker said. "And then we put them at the free-throw line. We knew they were a good free-throw shooting team coming in. ... They got to the line more than we did throughout the first three quarters and that was the big difference. And when we did get to the line, we didn't convert at the rate that we needed to." Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/16/21133...rylink=cpy[/IMG]

[Image: LGrEj.AuSt.79.jpg]Denny Crum and Joe B. Hall shared some popcorn at the Southwestern vs. Rowan County quarterfinal game at the Boys Sweet 16 state basketball championship tournament at Rupp Arena on Friday, March 16 in Lexington, Ky. Photo by David Perry | Staff HERALD-LEADER Buy Photo

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/16/21135...rylink=cpy

Great game by the Warriors!! They're an extremely good second half team! They have a great group of talented seniors along with a great group of underclassmen! Combine that with Steve Wright and you have a championship combination! Not saying that they will win it all but, as I have been saying, they're my darkhorse pick! Go Southwestern!

Southwestern rallies past Rowan County

Southwestern went on a big run in the fourth quarter and stormed past Rowan County 67-57 in the Sweet Sixteen quarterfinals Friday afternoon in Rupp Arena.

Rowan County, last year’s state runner-up, used a 10-0 run of its own to take a 47-45 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. But it was all Warriors after that.

Justin Epperson had 5 points and David Kapinga had 4 in a 13-0 run that gave Southwestern a 58-45 lead with 1:54 left.

Kapinga led the winners with 18 points. Justin Edwards had 15 and Cody Epperson, Justin’s brother, added 13.

The Warriors were 28 of 37 from the free throw line.

D.J. Townsend had 19 points for Rowan County. Jason Egan had 16 points. Townsend and Egan also had 4 three-pointers each.

Adam Wing, whose three-point shooting carried the Vikings to the state finals last year, didn’t have that magic touch this week. He was 0-for-12 from three-point range before finally making one late in the game against Southwestern. He had 5 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists.

Southwestern, in the state tournament for the first time in school history, advances to play the Trinity-Clark County winner in Saturday morning’s semifinals.

Wrights prized recruit has 18. Sorry Sw Ur run comes to an end sat morning.

Way to go WARRIORS!!! :Clap: :Clap: :Clap:

Keep it up!

SOUTHWESTERN vs ROWAN COUNTY
03/16/12 12 NOON EST at RUPP ARENA-LEXINGTON, KY
At RUPP ARENA-LEXINGTON, KY

SOUTHWESTERN 67, ROWAN COUNTY 57

SOUTHWESTERN (29-8)
KAPINGA, DAVID 5-9 7-10 18; EDWARDS, JUSTIN 5-13 5-6 15; EPPERSON, CODY 2-5
7-8 13; EPPERSON, JUSTIN 1-2 7-9 9; SCHULZ, JUSTIN 2-6 2-2 8; LEWIS, ROBBY
2-6 0-2 4; DAULTON, MARLOW 0-1 0-0 0; COLLIER, ISAIAH 0-3 0-0 0; MERRICK,
CAMERON 0-0 0-0 0; ISAACS, ADAM 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-45 28-37 67.

ROWAN COUNTY (26-8)
TOWNSEND, D.J. 7-14 1-3 19; EGAN, JASON 5-15 2-4 16; THACKER, TYLER 2-5 4-5
9; WING, ADAM 2-13 0-0 5; HODGE, PHILLIP 1-2 2-2 4; NEWSOME, TREVOR 1-3 0-0
3; BARNARD, JOSH 0-0 1-2 1; BROWN, MATT 0-0 0-0 0; TAYLOR, ZACH 0-0 0-0 0;
PRATT, HAYDEN 0-0 0-0 0; FANNIN, CLAY 0-0 0-0 0; GRAHAM, JUSTIN 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals 18-52 10-16 57.

SOUTHWESTERN.................. 11 19 15 22 - 67
ROWAN COUNTY.................. 10 23 12 12 - 57

3-point goals--SOUTHWESTERN 5-16 (EPPERSON, CODY 2-4; SCHULZ, JUSTIN 2-5;
KAPINGA, DAVID 1-1; DAULTON, MARLOW 0-1; COLLIER, ISAIAH 0-3; EDWARDS,
JUSTIN 0-2), ROWAN COUNTY 11-30 (TOWNSEND, D.J. 4-6; EGAN, JASON 4-10; WING,
ADAM 1-8; NEWSOME, TREVOR 1-3; THACKER, TYLER 1-2; HODGE, PHILLIP 0-1).
Fouled out--SOUTHWESTERN-None, ROWAN COUNTY-TOWNSEND, D.J.; THACKER, TYLER.
Rebounds--SOUTHWESTERN 34 (EDWARDS, JUSTIN 10), ROWAN COUNTY 34 (WING, ADAM
10). Assists--SOUTHWESTERN 6 (KAPINGA, DAVID 5), ROWAN COUNTY 10 (WING, ADAM
5). Total fouls--SOUTHWESTERN 17, ROWAN COUNTY 28. Technical
fouls--SOUTHWESTERN-EDWARDS, JUSTIN; TEAM, ROWAN COUNTY-THACKER, TYLER.

http://www.khsaa.org/basketball/boys/swe...m#GAME.NWS

Granny Bear Wrote:OMG!!!!
Congratulations to the Warriors!!!!


Where is GetChili???? He's probably drunk!!

I'm here. I feel like I am. :insane:

Great game by the Warriors with a victory over defending state runner-up Rowan County.

Congrats to the Warriors on the victory and best of luck tomorrow against Trinity!

Congratulations Warriors.