Offense galore as Ballard wins by 20; Clark in OT

Day two of the National City/KHSAA Sweet 16 got off to an offensive start, an explosive, offensive start, as the Ballard Bruins, ranked number two in the state, put an 80 spot on the board, defeating the Owensboro Red Devils, 80-60, and the Clark County Cardinals and the Christian County Colonels staged an overtime thriller, with the Cards getting the 77-71 victory.

Missed opportunites and, more importantly, turnovers spelled doom for the champions of region 3, as Owensboro committed 36 turnovers, leading to 37 Ballard points. The Red Devils won the battle of the boards, 47-37, and had more second chance points, 17-10. But the quickness of Ballard was too much for Owensboro to overcome, as the Bruins were coming at them from all sides in getting the ball.

A big run by Ballard in the third period, 16-3 over 3 minutes, turned a close game into a rout, as Ballard extended a 40-33 lead to 56-36. That 20 point margin was held througout the rest of the contest.

Even with a slow start, Owensboro had their chances to make things interesting, and for a part of the second quarter, that is just what they did, going on a 9-2 run of their own to cut a 10 point advantage by the Bruins to just 3, 21-18, and only trailed by 6 at the break, 30-24.

But the third quarter would prove to be the breaker, as Ballard outscored Owensboro 30-16 in the frame, equalling their points for the whole first half.

"Our ball pressure was excellent, and we got after it hard," said coach Renner afterwards.

Balanced scoring paced the Bruins, champions of region 7, in this one. Antiqwuan Beckham led all scorers with 16 points, followed by Johonne Hamilton with 15. David Stanley added 12 points, and Jamal Cook came off the bench to pour in 10.

Owensboro also had balanced scoring of the own, with Jamison Johnson leading the way with 13 points. He nearly had the third double/double of the tourney by a player from the losing team, just missing with 9 rebounds. Xavier Barnett and Tyler Acton came off the bench to get 12 points and 11 points, respectively. Brock Moorman added 10 for the Red Devils.

Ballard moves on to Friday evening quarterfinal game where they will take on the champions of region 10, a team who is making their first trip to the state tournament since 1990, the Clark County Cardinals.  The Cards made sure their first appearance in 17 years would be a good one, getting a hard fought 77-71 overtime win over the champs of region 2, the Christian County Colonels.

In what has been the best start so far, by both teams, in each of the games played, the Cardinals and Colonels jumped out of the gate firing on all cylinders, as Clark led 22-17 after a period of play. The second quarter was good as well, especially by the Cards that saw them grab an 11 point lead at one point. But Christian battled back to trim the deficit to 7 at the break, 38-31.

The tempo was still fast and furious in the 3rd quarter, but the scoring went down, with Clark holding their 11 point advantage heading into the final frame, 49-42.

That lead was still 10 with 3 minutes to go, before Christian County started their run to make things interesting. Thanks for 5-of-14 shooting from the line in that stretch by Clark, the Colonels were able to get all the way back in it, ending regulation on a 17-7 run, and forcing overtime, tied at 68 all.

The Colonels tacked on 2 more to that run to get their first lead of the game with 3:20 left in the extra period, 70-68, but the Cardinals were not going to be denied their great game played, as they showed great poise in fighting back to tie, and then get the lead. From there, they connected on 7 for 8 from the stripe to ice things, and move on to the quarterfinal round on Friday.

"Our kids know their roles, and that has made them successful this season," coach Scott Humphery commented afterward. "Our kids answered the bell after regulation, and that has been our style all year long," he added.

"You have to give Christian County credit, too. They aren't 28-4 and back-to-back region champions for nothing. They played a great game, and battled from start to finish. We are just happy to be moving on to Friday."

All-state guard Preston Knowles led the way for Clark with 24 points, and added 13 boards for a double-double. Tristan Jones also had himself a great game, recording a double-double as well with 20 point and 15 rebounds. Robert Hatton added 12 points, including some big free-throws down the stretch to help his team get the win.

Corey Wilford led the Colonels with 17 points off the bench, while Jamaizz Baker had 10.

Posted by: Marc Hall

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