[Red and Black]

Final

[15thregionwatcher]

Final

Big win for Cards in what is first of several matchups between these two this season one would think.  

any stats?

[EKY Hoops]

Martin County lead the whole game. Stretched it out to 16 at one point. Pikeville had a mini run in the 4th to cut it to 4, but Davis hit a big 3 and that was it. Panthers were weak with the ball and had stretches of really stagnant offense. Also, way too many defensive breakdowns where they lost a guy and let Martin County have easy layups.

Martin County is top dog in the 15th at this point, they obviously just didn’t show up against Perry Co Central because this team would beat that Perry team I saw against Belfry by 20+. They were very athletic and physical. They also showed they can play defense too when they decide to. They left some points out there today too, because Dials and Watts didn’t have great shooting days.

[GeorgeLopez1234]

I would like for everyone to apologize to me and to all the Martin co people for saying pikeville was going to win by 20. The cardinals just showed why they are the #1 team in the 15th region. Even playing 8 on 5, the cards played smart and got the job done. It’s going to be a fun season for the Cards.

[Lcontop]

Watched this one live and Martin county really surprised me on the defensive end. Held pikeville to 17 at half time. Watts kid looked unreal playing defense. I may be a little bias but I think Lawrence matches up a lot better than pikeville. A lot of stuff to take from this game

[jetpilot]

I would like for everyone to apologize to me and to all the Martin co people for saying pikeville was going to win by 20. The cardinals just showed why they are the #1 team in the 15th region. Even playing 8 on 5, the cards played smart and got the job done. It’s going to be a fun season for the Cards.

Two huge whines in one post when you win lol. Looking forward to your material when you lose.
I apologize from the bottom of my heart that someone picked Pikeville and that all the calls didn't go your way. All better now?

Congrats to MC on the win. Pikeville will be fine.

[Red and Black]

Watts and Onkst are the best 2 players in the 15th that I’ve seen this season. Was fun to get to watch them go head to head today. Both extremely athletic and very skilled. I thought the refs were very inconsistent today and that’s probably the biggest reason this game was within 10 points at the end. Martin was up by 12+ 95% of this game. Don’t want to take away from what pikeville did because they played well and are a very good basketball team, but Martin came out hot from the tip-off and stayed hot up until about 5 minutes left in the 4th when they seemed to run out of gas and allowed pikeville to make a run. Idk who stops watts this season because if you give him a little space he’ll hit a 3 and if you press up on him he takes 2 dribbles around you and dunks it. He’s an insanely good basketball player.

[Belichick]

Pikeville came in playing well but not today. Martin County played well and were physical and really took it to
them. Their best game of the season so far. They were tougher and really played hard on defense. Too many turnovers for Pikeville and they gave up way too many offensive rebounds. Anybody complaining about the calls may want to realize Martin had 1 kid shoot 21 free throws today. He’s a good player and good at flailing around and baiting calls by officials but calls didn’t help either team. They gave a technical to Martin’s coach and he deserved it and gave one to a Pikeville starter early in the 3rd quarter to foul him out of the game. Big shots by Davis in second half. I think he may have been scoreless at halftime but he lit it up second half. Pikeville made one 3 until late in the game. For a good shooting team, they didn’t show it today but Martin defense caused a lot of those misses. Good win for the Cardinals. They are at the top of the 15th and if they decide to play hard every game, we will probably see this matchup 1 or 2 more times this year.

[GeorgeLopez1234]

I would like for everyone to apologize to me and to all the Martin co people for saying pikeville was going to win by 20. The cardinals just showed why they are the #1 team in the 15th region. Even playing 8 on 5, the cards played smart and got the job done. It’s going to be a fun season for the Cards.

Two huge whines in one post when you win lol. Looking forward to your material when you lose.
I apologize from the bottom of my heart that someone picked Pikeville and that all the calls didn't go your way. All better now?

Congrats to MC on the win. Pikeville will be fine.

I just tell it like it is brother. Don’t like to brag a lot but I’m bragging about this one. Nobody thought we could beat them and we just showed we can. And if we lose then again, ill tell it like it is.

[Sportscritic79]

6 teams can win regional right now. These are two of them. Will be best tournament in a long time!

[fan_14]

6 teams may be able to win but it’s Martin and Pikevilles to lose

[Lcontop]

6 teams can win regional right now. These are two of them. Will be best tournament in a long time!

6 teams is a stretch. After todays games I would say’s mc, pikeville, Betsy lane and lc are the only teams that look like contenders

[ReginaPanther08]

Martin County outmatched Pikeville in Strength and athleticism terribly. When pikeville went into the zone it didnt help. Spot up shooters like Bryson Dials and Peyton Davis made timely shots to secure the win for the Cardinals. If pikeville has south of 10 turnovers they win this game.

[Wildcat45]

Exactly what I wanted to see in this one. If Martin can beat Pikeville like this on the road, it opens the door for others to win the region title as well. PC, BL, LC all benefit from Martin being able to beat Pikeville.

[FloydCountySuperstar]

I think we can play with both these teams, we can win region if we stay healthy

[Red and Black]

I think we can play with both these teams, we can win region if we stay healthy

As talented as Pente and Parsons are, they aren’t Watts or Onkst. Those guys are not just ballers but also exceptional athletes. To be fair, very few kids are gifted the way those two are, but I just don’t see BL playing within 15 of either of these teams, TBH. Martin and Pikeville have solid guards outside of their 2 stars and Maynard and Walters will likely dominate the boards and own the paint against BL’s lack of size. I hope I’m wrong, but I just don’t see it. I think Martin and Pikeville are 1 and 2 in the 15th and everybody else is a step down.

[Jagsforlife]

Martin county for some reason will go from time to time and just look bad but man when there is a big game they always seem to show up. I do think these are the 2 best teams in the region. I feel like people on here believe Martin county is the only team that can beat pikeville and no one else has a chance. I’m sure Jc will be in the mix as well. Way to much talent and has a great coach

[RbDraw97]

Pikevilles zone was weak, Keene the machine was a machine on them turnovers, without the TO’s and more shots hit consistently pikeville wins the game, but that’s just basketball teams with have off games regularly

[MotoManiac11]

Martin County has a top 10 defense in the state, they are fast, gritty, and get after it every possession. It’s gonna take a lot to stop these guys later in the year. Pikeville may have seen 5 open shots the whole game.

[Grinch1]

Finally saw the box score on this one. Some people on here and other social media sites were claiming Pikeville had the favorable whistle with numerous post that MC was playing 8-5. Pikeville shot 20 free throws and MC shot 28, with one player shooting 21 by himself. So one player from MC shot more free throws than Pikeville did as a team.

This game ultimately came down to MC made a couple more free throws (they shot 8 more) and MC making 3 extra threes.

Pikeville had a lot of turnovers. If they had cut down on some of those the game would have be different. Credit MC for their defensive effort.

I can’t wait for round 2.

[Red and Black]

Finally saw the box score on this one. Some people on here and other social media sites were claiming Pikeville had the favorable whistle with numerous post that MC was playing 8-5.  Pikeville shot 20 free throws and MC shot 28, with one player shooting 21 by himself. So one player from MC shot more free throws than Pikeville did as a team. 

This game ultimately came down to MC made a couple more free throws (they shot 8 more) and MC making 3 extra threes.

Pikeville had a lot of turnovers. If they had cut down on some of those the game would have be different. Credit MC for their defensive effort.

I can’t wait for round 2.

Maybe. I think MC attacked the rim more aggressively than Pikeville, which resulted in more free throws. The MC defense forced Pikeville to take a lot of lower percentage jump shots, which resulted in their lower FG% than normal and I thought MC's guards did a better job getting open on the perimeter leading to better looks from 3, especially in transition. The problem with the refs was that they were wildly inconsistent. One minute they were letting them play very physical then the next minute they were ticky-tack. I think it affected both teams negatively but MC was able to capitalize on it better.

I definitely agree that round 2 will be great. Two great teams are always fun to watch.