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03-16-2012, 08:35 PM
Stardust Wrote:[Image: http://media.kentucky.com/smedia/2012/03...uSt.79.jpg]
Great photo of those two guys, who used to coach with one another at South Laurel.
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03-16-2012, 08:37 PM
wildthang3 Wrote:Wrights prized recruit has 18. Sorry Sw Ur run comes to an end sat morning.
The recruiting is a lot more acceptable when it's working for your team. Recruiting will be the only way some coaches/teams will ever make it to the tourney. Kudos to all the teams that are there with kids from their hometowns.
03-16-2012, 10:56 PM
Lexington — It looks like Southwestern’s “Running down a Dream” campaign will continue on to the Final Four.
With an impressive 67-57 victory over the Rowan County Vikings yesterday afternoon at Rupp Arena, the Southwestern Warriors will move on in the 95th annual PNC/KHSAA Sweet 16 State Basketball Tournament, where they will play tourney favorite Louisville Trinity in the Final Four.
Steve Wright and crew got past defending state runner-up Rowan County to prolong the Warriors’ run in the school’s first-ever appearance at the State Tournament. With the ten-point victory over Shawn Thacker’s Vikings, the ‘Blue and Orange’ upped their record to 29-8 on the season.
Wright has already done so much in so little time as the Southwestern head coach, as the first-year Warrior coach brought Southwestern their first 12th Region title and now has the program in its first trip to the Final Four.
“I felt good about (the move to Southwestern) from the very beginning and then once I got around the kids, it was incredible,” Wright began. “It’s tremendous for the school and for the community. I’m really happy for our administration, the kids, and the community, because they’ve deserved this.”
The theme of yesterday’s Elite Eight match-up was when the Vikings delivered a punch, Southwestern would respond with a punch of their. In the end, the Warriors delivered the knockout punch to move on in the best season in the program’s 19-year history.
“We’ve been really mentally tough from the standpoint that every time someone makes a run we answer it - we’ve been that way for weeks,” explained the Warriors head coach. “We made some changes in our defense in the fourth quarter because they started to find seams and do sometimes things to us. I think we just got more aggressive offensively.”
Rowan County jumped out to an 36-32 lead over the Warriors midway through the third quarter. The Warriors would overcome a four-point Viking lead to take an eight-point, 45-37 lead of their own thanks to a 13-1 run.
Junior Justin Schulz hit a trey and sophomore Justin Edwards hit back-to-back lay-ups to put the Warriors out front by three points at 39-36. Sophomore David Kapinga, with 3:52 left in the period, made a pair of free-throws to grab a 41-36 advantage.
The Vikings’ Tyler Thacker hit a free-throw to end Southwestern’s run of nine unanswered points, cutting the Warrior lead to four points with 3:40 remaining in the third frame. After Thacker’s free-throw, Kapinga and senior Robby Lewis scored consecutive baskets to run out to a 45-37 advantage with just over a minute and a half left.
Rowan County would respond in a big way, closing the third quarter with eight straight points to tie the game up at 45-45. Jason Egan came up with a pair of three-pointers to get within two points, then senior D.J. Townsend hit a lay-up with 33 seconds left to knot the contest up at 45 apiece heading into the fourth and final quarter of hoops action.
Townsend and the Vikings scored their tenth straight point of the run in the opening minute of the fourth period to put his club out front by two points at 47-45. That lead would be short-lived, however, as the Warriors would go on a 13-0 spurt to take an 11-point, 58-47 advantage over the defending state runner-up Vikings.
Senior Justin Epperson, who played lights out in the Warriors’ first game of the tourney, hit a pair of shots from the charity stripe to tie game up at 47-47 with 5:41 left to play in the contest. Schulz would also tally two free-throws, which would enable Southwestern to retake the lead for the rest of the evening.
Lay-ups from Kapinga and Edwards, along with three made free-throws from Justin Epperson allowed Southwestern to take a 56-47 lead on the scoreboard and widen the run to 11 straight points with 2:34 left in the Elite Eight contest. Kapinga’s converted charity tosses put the Warriors up by 11 points with just under two minutes remaining.
Viking senior and University of Evansville signee Adam Wing surprisingly didn’t score his first point of the game until 1:46 remaining in the ballgame, when Wing knocked down a trifecta. After Cody Epperson made two free-throws, the Rowan County senior scored on a lay-up to make the score, 60-52, in favor of the ‘Blue and Orange.’
Southwestern would go seven of eight from the charity stripe in the final 1:19 to clinch the upset over the Vikings and earn the school’s inaugural trip to the Final Four.
“It was a really difficult game to prepare for, because obviously they played so well here last year,” stated the Warriors hoops coach. “We knew what they could do, I just didn’t know if we could do anything about it. We felt like there was one or two ways we could be successful and we stayed with that the entire way, even when we struggled. I thought our kids played excellent defense and we rebounded the ball pretty well.”
Kapinga led the way for Southwestern with 18 points, while tallying a club-high five assists.
Edwards, who had a double-double in the 52-41 win over Hopkinsville in the first round, came up with another double in the win over the Vikings, scoring 15 points and pulling down ten rebounds.
Cody Epperson joined the two Warrior sophomores in double figures, pouring in 13 points in the contest. Justin Epperson and Schulz flirted with double figures, as they scored nine points and eight points, respectively.
Rowan County was led in scoring by Townsend, who led all scorers with 19 points. Egan was the only other Viking in double figures, as he scored 16 points.
The Vikings used the three-ball to stay in the contest, as Thacker’s club hit 11 treys in the loss, while Southwestern hit five three-pointers.
From the charity stripe, Southwestern went 28 of 37 for 75.7 percent and the Vikings made 10 of 16 charity tosses for a percentage of 62.5.
In a way, the game was a reunion between the clubs. Thacker and Wright used to share the same bench, as Wright was Thacker’s boss when they coached at South Laurel, the same school where Wright won a state title at.
The two coaches have meet multiple times over the past decade with Wright being at South Laurel and Thacker being at Somerset. Wright has had the upper hand in the previous meetings, as Thacker has managed to only squeak out two wins over his former mentor with the last coming in the old formation of the 48th District, when Thacker’s Briar Jumpers down Wright’s Cardinals in the opening round of the district tournament on February 27, 2002.
Wright, meanwhile, has 11 victories over his former assistant coach. The biggest of those victories came yesterday, as Wright’s new team - the Warriors - got past Thacker’s new team - the Vikings.
Southwestern, with the victory earns a date with Trinity, who will come into this morning’s ballgame with an overall record of 32-3. The Shamrocks of Trinity advanced to the Final Four with a 62-39 thumping over George Rogers Clark yesterday afternoon.
The Southwestern-Trinity game will kick-off the semifinals of the State Tournament this morning at 10 a.m., with the second semifinal match-up being played at 11:30 a.m. at Rupp Arena.
The winner of this morning's pair of semifinal games will play in the State Championship game tonight, which will get underway at 8 p.m.
http://somerset-kentucky.com/localsports...Final-Four
With an impressive 67-57 victory over the Rowan County Vikings yesterday afternoon at Rupp Arena, the Southwestern Warriors will move on in the 95th annual PNC/KHSAA Sweet 16 State Basketball Tournament, where they will play tourney favorite Louisville Trinity in the Final Four.
Steve Wright and crew got past defending state runner-up Rowan County to prolong the Warriors’ run in the school’s first-ever appearance at the State Tournament. With the ten-point victory over Shawn Thacker’s Vikings, the ‘Blue and Orange’ upped their record to 29-8 on the season.
Wright has already done so much in so little time as the Southwestern head coach, as the first-year Warrior coach brought Southwestern their first 12th Region title and now has the program in its first trip to the Final Four.
“I felt good about (the move to Southwestern) from the very beginning and then once I got around the kids, it was incredible,” Wright began. “It’s tremendous for the school and for the community. I’m really happy for our administration, the kids, and the community, because they’ve deserved this.”
The theme of yesterday’s Elite Eight match-up was when the Vikings delivered a punch, Southwestern would respond with a punch of their. In the end, the Warriors delivered the knockout punch to move on in the best season in the program’s 19-year history.
“We’ve been really mentally tough from the standpoint that every time someone makes a run we answer it - we’ve been that way for weeks,” explained the Warriors head coach. “We made some changes in our defense in the fourth quarter because they started to find seams and do sometimes things to us. I think we just got more aggressive offensively.”
Rowan County jumped out to an 36-32 lead over the Warriors midway through the third quarter. The Warriors would overcome a four-point Viking lead to take an eight-point, 45-37 lead of their own thanks to a 13-1 run.
Junior Justin Schulz hit a trey and sophomore Justin Edwards hit back-to-back lay-ups to put the Warriors out front by three points at 39-36. Sophomore David Kapinga, with 3:52 left in the period, made a pair of free-throws to grab a 41-36 advantage.
The Vikings’ Tyler Thacker hit a free-throw to end Southwestern’s run of nine unanswered points, cutting the Warrior lead to four points with 3:40 remaining in the third frame. After Thacker’s free-throw, Kapinga and senior Robby Lewis scored consecutive baskets to run out to a 45-37 advantage with just over a minute and a half left.
Rowan County would respond in a big way, closing the third quarter with eight straight points to tie the game up at 45-45. Jason Egan came up with a pair of three-pointers to get within two points, then senior D.J. Townsend hit a lay-up with 33 seconds left to knot the contest up at 45 apiece heading into the fourth and final quarter of hoops action.
Townsend and the Vikings scored their tenth straight point of the run in the opening minute of the fourth period to put his club out front by two points at 47-45. That lead would be short-lived, however, as the Warriors would go on a 13-0 spurt to take an 11-point, 58-47 advantage over the defending state runner-up Vikings.
Senior Justin Epperson, who played lights out in the Warriors’ first game of the tourney, hit a pair of shots from the charity stripe to tie game up at 47-47 with 5:41 left to play in the contest. Schulz would also tally two free-throws, which would enable Southwestern to retake the lead for the rest of the evening.
Lay-ups from Kapinga and Edwards, along with three made free-throws from Justin Epperson allowed Southwestern to take a 56-47 lead on the scoreboard and widen the run to 11 straight points with 2:34 left in the Elite Eight contest. Kapinga’s converted charity tosses put the Warriors up by 11 points with just under two minutes remaining.
Viking senior and University of Evansville signee Adam Wing surprisingly didn’t score his first point of the game until 1:46 remaining in the ballgame, when Wing knocked down a trifecta. After Cody Epperson made two free-throws, the Rowan County senior scored on a lay-up to make the score, 60-52, in favor of the ‘Blue and Orange.’
Southwestern would go seven of eight from the charity stripe in the final 1:19 to clinch the upset over the Vikings and earn the school’s inaugural trip to the Final Four.
“It was a really difficult game to prepare for, because obviously they played so well here last year,” stated the Warriors hoops coach. “We knew what they could do, I just didn’t know if we could do anything about it. We felt like there was one or two ways we could be successful and we stayed with that the entire way, even when we struggled. I thought our kids played excellent defense and we rebounded the ball pretty well.”
Kapinga led the way for Southwestern with 18 points, while tallying a club-high five assists.
Edwards, who had a double-double in the 52-41 win over Hopkinsville in the first round, came up with another double in the win over the Vikings, scoring 15 points and pulling down ten rebounds.
Cody Epperson joined the two Warrior sophomores in double figures, pouring in 13 points in the contest. Justin Epperson and Schulz flirted with double figures, as they scored nine points and eight points, respectively.
Rowan County was led in scoring by Townsend, who led all scorers with 19 points. Egan was the only other Viking in double figures, as he scored 16 points.
The Vikings used the three-ball to stay in the contest, as Thacker’s club hit 11 treys in the loss, while Southwestern hit five three-pointers.
From the charity stripe, Southwestern went 28 of 37 for 75.7 percent and the Vikings made 10 of 16 charity tosses for a percentage of 62.5.
In a way, the game was a reunion between the clubs. Thacker and Wright used to share the same bench, as Wright was Thacker’s boss when they coached at South Laurel, the same school where Wright won a state title at.
The two coaches have meet multiple times over the past decade with Wright being at South Laurel and Thacker being at Somerset. Wright has had the upper hand in the previous meetings, as Thacker has managed to only squeak out two wins over his former mentor with the last coming in the old formation of the 48th District, when Thacker’s Briar Jumpers down Wright’s Cardinals in the opening round of the district tournament on February 27, 2002.
Wright, meanwhile, has 11 victories over his former assistant coach. The biggest of those victories came yesterday, as Wright’s new team - the Warriors - got past Thacker’s new team - the Vikings.
Southwestern, with the victory earns a date with Trinity, who will come into this morning’s ballgame with an overall record of 32-3. The Shamrocks of Trinity advanced to the Final Four with a 62-39 thumping over George Rogers Clark yesterday afternoon.
The Southwestern-Trinity game will kick-off the semifinals of the State Tournament this morning at 10 a.m., with the second semifinal match-up being played at 11:30 a.m. at Rupp Arena.
The winner of this morning's pair of semifinal games will play in the State Championship game tonight, which will get underway at 8 p.m.
http://somerset-kentucky.com/localsports...Final-Four
03-16-2012, 10:56 PM
SOUTHWESTERN 67, ROWAN COUNTY 57
SOUTHWESTERN
Kapinga 5-9 7-10 18; Ewards 5-13 5-6 15; C. Epperson 2-5 7-8 13; J. Epperson 1-2 7-9 9; Schulz 2-6 2-2 8; Lewis 2-6 0-2 4; Marlow 0-1 0-0 0; Collier 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 17-45 28-37 67.
ROWAN COUNTY
Townsend. 7-14 1-3 19; Egan 5-15 2-4 16; Thacker 2-5 4-5 9; Wing 2-13 0-0 5; Hodge 1-2 2-2 4; Newsome 1-3 0-0 3; Barnard 0-0 1-2 1; Totals 18-52 10-16 57.
SW 11 19 15 22 — 67
RC 10 23 12 12 — 57
SOUTHWESTERN
Kapinga 5-9 7-10 18; Ewards 5-13 5-6 15; C. Epperson 2-5 7-8 13; J. Epperson 1-2 7-9 9; Schulz 2-6 2-2 8; Lewis 2-6 0-2 4; Marlow 0-1 0-0 0; Collier 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 17-45 28-37 67.
ROWAN COUNTY
Townsend. 7-14 1-3 19; Egan 5-15 2-4 16; Thacker 2-5 4-5 9; Wing 2-13 0-0 5; Hodge 1-2 2-2 4; Newsome 1-3 0-0 3; Barnard 0-0 1-2 1; Totals 18-52 10-16 57.
SW 11 19 15 22 — 67
RC 10 23 12 12 — 57
03-16-2012, 10:57 PM
[Image: http://d6673sr63mbv7.cloudfront.net/arch...416b3d.jpg]
Southwestern High School sophomore Justin Edwards (center) drives between Rownan County High School defenders Jason Egan (left) and Josh Barnard in the Warriors’ 67-57 win in the Boys Sweet Sixteen State Tournament quarterfinals at Rupp Arena.
Southwestern High School sophomore Justin Edwards (center) drives between Rownan County High School defenders Jason Egan (left) and Josh Barnard in the Warriors’ 67-57 win in the Boys Sweet Sixteen State Tournament quarterfinals at Rupp Arena.
03-17-2012, 12:59 AM
Give Wright the players and he will win.
Im really surprised some of the bigger inner city schools didnt try to pick him up before SW snatched him.
He's been there before with South and knows what it takes to get it done, but that teams at South was a one in a lifetime around here. Hopefully SW can make it twice in a life time.
Im really surprised some of the bigger inner city schools didnt try to pick him up before SW snatched him.
He's been there before with South and knows what it takes to get it done, but that teams at South was a one in a lifetime around here. Hopefully SW can make it twice in a life time.
03-17-2012, 01:26 AM
03-17-2012, 01:27 AM
03-17-2012, 01:30 AM
03-17-2012, 01:30 AM
03-17-2012, 11:29 AM
Southwestern enjoy the moment Trinity will crush you and what are going to do when your little canadian star goes to another school next year. Its a shame. Worst officiated state game that has been seen in decades.
Trinity 75
Southwestern 40
Worst defeat in Final Four history.
Congrats Southwestern
Trinity 75
Southwestern 40
Worst defeat in Final Four history.
Congrats Southwestern
03-17-2012, 11:44 AM
Lizzard Wrote:Southwestern enjoy the moment Trinity will crush you and what are going to do when your little canadian star goes to another school next year. Its a shame. Worst officiated state game that has been seen in decades.
Trinity 75
Southwestern 40
Worst defeat in Final Four history.
Congrats Southwestern
You seemed surprised that Wright gets kids like this at SW. He did it for 20 years at SL.
03-17-2012, 01:49 PM
Lizzard Wrote:Southwestern enjoy the moment Trinity will crush you and what are going to do when your little canadian star goes to another school next year. Its a shame. Worst officiated state game that has been seen in decades.
Trinity 75
Southwestern 40
Worst defeat in Final Four history.
Congrats Southwestern
Are you extremely butt hurt?
BTW, Trinity didnt beat them by 35 as you predicted.
03-17-2012, 02:27 PM
Who cares by 1 or by 35 Sw lost it doesn't matter by how much.
03-17-2012, 02:46 PM
Your saying SW recurits players for their team.Trinity recurits players also being a private school! I guess the only difference for you is SW must of beat your team!
03-17-2012, 03:15 PM
American Dream Wrote:Your saying SW recurits players for their team.Trinity recurits players also being a private school! I guess the only difference for you is SW must of beat your team!
Recruiting is always used as an excuse by the losing team. All schools capable of recruiting do so. Some are a little slicker than others and some are allowed to get by with more than do others but all of them either do it or attempt to do it. All of those who claim that they don't recruit either are incapable of doing so or they lie. No exceptions.
03-17-2012, 05:38 PM
Well Steve is a good one and I'm a south laurel guy, where it worked for us for 20 yrs.
03-17-2012, 09:31 PM
Lizzard Wrote:Southwestern enjoy the moment Trinity will crush you and what are going to do when your little canadian star goes to another school next year. Its a shame. Worst officiated state game that has been seen in decades.
Trinity 75
Southwestern 40
Worst defeat in Final Four history.
Congrats Southwestern
I'll have to agree the officiating was pretty bad. Seemed like every touch was called both ways.
03-17-2012, 11:33 PM
Yes, its always nice when the parents can transfer along with the students, and I'm sure Mr Townsend was looking at Morehead area long before Coach Thacker got the job. Hey, I say good for them that they came, but if you get beat by another team that is also "fortunate" in getting some players come into the system, don't try to call their players "recruits" while yours are always "transfers"
Either make a law that only kids that started kindergarten in your system are eligible for sports or just play whoever shows up.
I've heard some Ashland complaints about the "somerset transfers"
so whats the difference?
Either make a law that only kids that started kindergarten in your system are eligible for sports or just play whoever shows up.
I've heard some Ashland complaints about the "somerset transfers"
so whats the difference?
03-18-2012, 12:43 AM
Difference is Steve did the same stuff At SL, it isnt his first rodeo!
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