#1 Scott Co. Takes Down Raiders

McCreary Pulls Away From SW to Take Control of District Race

By CHRIS HOLLIS<br>Record Sports Writer

McCreary Central became the center of attention in boys basketball throughout the region last Monday as they hosted the state’s top ranked team, the Scott County Cardinals, in the finale of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day full of basketball.

The perineal powerhouse Cardinals had ascended to the top of the weekly high school basketball ratings that were published that day in the Lexington Herald-Leader. The Raiders also claimed a spot in the top 25, moving up to number 14 after holding the 18th spot the previous two weeks.

In addition to a large crowd at the McCreary Central gym the game was shown live across the state on the Wazoo Sports Network which is available on many local cable systems across the state including Access Cable in McCreary County. The Wazoo Sports Network also provides several opportunities to catch a replay of the game through the rest of the week (see accompanying schedule) as well as on demand at their website www.wazoosports.com . Monday’s game was the third time this season the Raiders have appeared on a live broadcast via the Wazoo Sports Network. The network broadcast the semifinal loss to Lexington Catholic in the Republic Bank Classic and then the third place game the following night in which McCreary defeated Louisville Male.

The contest started with the Cardinals jumping out to a 5-0 lead as Dakota Euton hit a three pointer from the left wing and Chad Jackson followed with a basket. The two were teammates at Rose Hill Christian Academy in Ashland where they gained notoriety as two of the top 8th grade players in the state five seasons ago. After three seasons at Rose Hill they both transferred to Scott County prior to last season and eventually gained their eligibility to play from the KHSAA after initially being ruled ineligible. Euton also had committed to play basketball at Kentucky while Billy Gillespie was at the helm but with the coming of John Calipari as coach Euton was told that the scholarship offer from the former head coach would not be honored but that they would continue to evaluate him. Euton decided to look elsewhere for an opportunity to play at the next level and would up signing with Akron over Eastern Kentucky. Jackson however has signed to play with the Colonels at EKU.

Jackson’s basket not only put the Cards up 5-0 but also touched off a scoring duel between he and Central’s Aaron Watts that lasted for most of the quarter and accounted for twenty-five of the thirty points scored in the frame between the two teams and twenty-three straight points.

Watts connected for a three pointer to get the Raiders on the board but Jackson countered with another basket. Watts then hit two free throws followed by another three pointer to give McCreary a 10-9 lead with 3:48 to play in the first.

The two continued to answer each others scoring effort until Jacob Dixon went to the line with 1:41 to go and hit one of two free throws to give McCreary a 14-13 lead. Dixon’s basket ended Watts scoring streak after he had scored the Raiders first thirteen points of the game.

Jackson wasn’t finished yet though as he would go on to score once more in the final minute of the period before adding a three point play early in the second quarter to give him fifteen of his teams eighteen points with all of them coming in succession.

Freshman Tyson Williams followed Jackson’s final basket of the first quarter with a free throw to tie the game at 15-15 heading into the second period.

Scott County dialed up the defensive pressure in the second quarter and held McCreary scoreless for nearly the first three minutes allowing them to build the lead to 21-15 as Austin Flannery finally brought Jackson’s scoring run to a close with a basket followed by a free throw on the following possession.

Watts missed on the front end of a one and one between the scores by Flannery after Dixon had done the same to open the period. The missed charity tosses left the Raiders 5-10 from the line at the time and proved to be a foreshadowing of the rest of the game.

Zack Roark scored with 5:01 to play in the half cutting the Cardinal advantage down to 21-17 and giving Central their first field goal by someone other than Watts.

A McCreary basket coming off of a nice touch pass underneath from Roark to Williams trimmed the lead to 26-21 but another missed free throw kept the Raiders from getting closer.

Scott County then scored seven straight points to push the lead to twelve inside the final minute of the half.

Central was able to cut the lead back to single digits when Roark let a runner go from just outside of the midcourt circle as the horn sounded. The shot nestled into the net to cut the Cardinal halftime lead to 33-24.

McCreary started the second half in similar fashion to the beginning of the game. The Cardinals scored five straight points only to have Watts counter for the Raiders with an eight point scoring spree that kept the deficit at nine points. Tanner Shotwell hit a three pointer to start the half and then added another to go along with a basket by Euton to keep Scott out in front.

Euton added two free throws followed by a short jumper by Williams to make it 43-34 with 3:20 left in the third.

Missed free throw opportunities again proved costly as Roark missed on four attempts in the final two and a half minutes of the period. The Cardinals ended the quarter with a basket by Jackson and a three pointer by guard Ge-Lawn Guyn to push the lead to 48-34. Guyn’s availability was questionable coming into the contest due to tendinitis but he ended up playing much of the second half and scored five points. Guyn had signed to play at UNC Charlotte but backed out of that commitment and is still weighing his options.

In the final quarter the Raiders were not able to make a serious run at the Cardinals lead as McCreary could only muster two field goals to go along with eleven free throws. Central was able to score unanswered points of two occasions in the period. After hitting only four of fourteen free throws during a stretch from midway through the opening period until the end of the third quarter the Raiders improved and hit eleven of sixteen in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t nearly enough as they fell 65-49. Overall McCreary hit only 18-33 (54%) from the line.

Watts was the only Raider in double figures and led all scorers with 26. After scoring 18 points in the first quarter and a half Jackson finished with 21 to lead Scott. Euton scored 16 and Flannery 12.



McCreary 46

Southwestern 28

McCreary Central took a huge step in claiming the number one seed in the district race in what could be one of the strangest games played in a long while.

Senior Sean Privett scored four points to help Central build a 6-0 lead but the offense stopped at that point for the first quarter.

McCreary’s defense held the Warriors to 0-10 shooting from the floor and only allowed a single free throw in the period after six minutes and thirty seven seconds of shutout basketball.

As the second quarter unfolded it appeared as if a normal basketball game was going on. Aaron Watts scored twelve of the Radier’s sixteen points in the period including a late three pointer that put Central back on top 22-20 at the half.

A Cody Epperson basket to start the second half tied the game but the Southwestern offense would again dissappear for the remainder of the quarter while McCreary went on a 15-0 run to take control of the contest. Three pointers by senior Ben Wright started and ended the 15-0 run for Central with the final one coming just ahead of the buzzer at the end of the third quarter.

From that point neither team did much on the offensive end with McCreary outscoring the Warriors 9-6 to stretch the final margin to 46-28.

In twenty four minutes of basketball which included the first quarter and both quarters of the second half the Warriors scored only nine points.

The win, however strange it was gives the Raiders a 4-0 district record with games still to play at Monticello and Wayne County.

Either Southwestern or Wayne could tie McCreary with four wins should the Raiders lose both of the remaining contests but McCreary now holds the tiebreaker over Southwestern with the season sweep.

Wayne would have to beat Southwestern and McCreary and root for Monticello to also knock off the Raiders to gain a tie at the top.

The Raiders will play at Monticello on Friday night and then travel back across highway 90 on Saturday to face Wayne in a make up game that was postponed earlier this month. A win in eight of those two games would assure McCreary the top spot in the district seedings and a first round matchup against Monticello who have clinched the fourth position in the district standings and a match up with the number one team in the district tournament.

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