Day one is in the books, and half of the quarterfinal games are set, as the South Laurel Cardinals and the Covington Holmes Bulldogs are moving on to Friday afternoon.

The champions of region 13, South Laurel, survived a determined bunch of Fairdale Bulldogs, the champs of region 6, 48-46, in the tightest game of the day.

Fairdale's biggest lead came late in the 3rd quarter at 34-26. South's largest lead in the game was only 3, on two occasions.

With 2:24 to play in the third, South's Jordan Hammonds was hit on a drive, and stayed down with a shoulder injury, that kept him out the rest of the quarter. That kinda took the wind out of the Cardinals' sail, as they saw a 1 point deficit turn into 8 before Ty Proffitt hit a couple of free-throws at the end of the period, and Fairdale led going into the final stanza, 34-28.

Hammonds was able to return to start the 4th, and that seemed to raise the spirits of the Cardinals and their faithful. South went on a 13-4 run to open the fourth, taking a 41-38 lead.

But the Bulldogs would not go down without a fight, as they fought back to take the lead on 2 separate instances, their final lead coming with 2:14 to play at 44-43.

The Cards were able to tie the score on a toss by Hammonds with 1:58 to play, and things would stay that way until Trey Smith connected on two charity tries. Fairdale would tie the score again with 33 seconds, but Smith would come through again at the stripe, hitting two more with only 13 seconds to play, setting the final score, 48-46.

The Bulldogs would have one more shot, but Hammonds blocked a final 3-point attempt at the buzzer, sealing the victory and movin the Cardinals on to the quarterfinals.

Coach Wright said defense was the key in this win saying, "Down the stretch, our defense was very good. We fought and battled hard, and I am proud of the way our kids toughed it out and survived."

Smith paced South with 21 points, while Ty Proffitt finished with 17.

Reggie Smith led Fairdale with 18 points, 14 coming in the second half. Jaquan Ransom finished with 12.

South Laurel's opponent in the quarterfinals will be a very athletic HOlmes team who were finally able to get their offense in gear and pull away from a good Paducah Tilghman team, 57-48.

With 1:53 to play in the first quarter, Holmes had a total of 3 points, and trailed 9-3.

Over the next 15+ minutes, their offense got going, thanks to their defense that forced multiple Tilghman turnovers, and they went on a 36-18 run to lead by their biggest margin of the game, 39-27 with just over two minutes to play in the 3rd quarter.

The Blue Tornado were able to trim that deficit to 6 with five to play in the game, but Holmes was able to keep Tilghman at bay with their quickness on both ends of the floor, and cluth free-throws by Arrez Henderson, to move on to the quarterfinals on Friday, 57-48.

Coach David Henley said their defense on David Jones and Stefon Perry was huge in getting this win.

"Anytime you hold those 2 players to 4 and 8 points for the game, you are doing something. Our offense wasn't what it normally is, which meant we had to turn things up on defense, and we stepped up and got the job done," he said.

The offense of Austin Hill was just fine for Holmes as he finished with a game high 26 points. Henderson added 12 for the Bulldogs.

For Tilghman, Isaac McClure, coming in averaging only 9 points per outing, led the way with a strong double/double, scoring 19 points and hauling down 14 rebounds.

Friday's first quarterfinal session will feature the Adair County Indians taking on the Scott County Cardinals at 12:00, followed by the South Laurel Cardinals taking on the Covington Holmes Bulldogs at around 2:00.