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The Boyle County celebrate with the trophy after the game against Lincoln County. (Clay Jackson / January 23, 2013) |
Written off in November, raising a trophy in February.
The Boyle County boys weren’t expected to repeat as district champions after heavy graduation losses, but they rebuilt themselves over the summer and refined their game over the winter to prepare for another postseason run.
And they pounced on their chance to claim another title Friday night, flooring Lincoln County in the first quarter and going on to a 67-54 victory in the 45th District Tournament championship at Rebel Arena.
The host Rebels outscored the Patriots 15-1 over the first 5 minutes, 17 seconds and were never threatened en route to a title that their returning players said was even sweeter than the one they won a year ago.
“It was nice the first time, and it’s even better because at the beginning of the year nobody said we could do anything,” Boyle forward Aram Martin said. “So to show everybody up is nice, man.”
Boyle lost six seniors, including four starters, after winning the district and reaching the regional finals last season, and most statewide previews rated the Rebels second or third in the five-team district before this season began.
“Losing what we lost from last year ... I don’t think people gave this bunch much credit or hope, and I think they were offended a little bit by that,” Boyle coach Steve Adams said.
Top-seeded Boyle (15-12) took it out on No. 3 seed Lincoln (15-17) right from the start Friday, as Hagen Tyler, Brett Jones and Chapman Bean sank three 3-point shots in an 87-second span to give the Rebels a 9-1 lead after 3:12 and kick off a run of 15 unanswered points that added fuel to their fire.
“We told ourselves, ‘Lincoln is a great shooting team, and if they come out hot in the first three minutes it’s going to be tough, so we’ve got to match their intensity,’” Martin said. “When we got up 15-1, I think we knew, basically, it was over then.”
Boyle went 4 for 6 from 3-point range and 7 for 11 overall from the field in the first quarter, while Lincoln missed its first six field-goal attempts and was 2 for 10 in the first period.
“That just got us more fired up and got our defense going. Then we all just started hitting shots, and the game went real well,” said Tyler, who scored eight points in the first quarter and led Boyle with 25 points.
Adams said it was important that the Rebels were playing well on both offense and defense at the same time.
“I think you’ve got to do both,” he said. “And it’s amazing how those two correlate. If you’re making shots, you’ve got more energy, you defend better. The kids just did a tremendous kob. We moved the basketball, knocked down open shots, didn’t hesitate, we just played.”
It was all too much for Lincoln, which never got closer than 13 points after Tyler’s 3-pointer with 1:39 left in the first half gave Boyle a 32-17 lead.
“They came out shooting the ball really, really well, and we didn’t do a very good job in the zone getting out and contesting their two best shooters,” Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson said. “They hit the first three 3s and we were down 9-to-1, and it makes it kind of tough. They built on that momentum.”
Boyle beat Lincoln for the third time in as many games this season, though both teams will advance to the 12th Region Tournament this week at Lincoln.
The Rebels hit at least half of their shots for the second straight game. They were 7 for 14 from 3-point range and 21 for 41 overall from the field, and they were 47 for 93 from the field in their two tournament games.
They also dominated the boards once again, outrebounding the Patriots 32-16 three days after they outrebounded Garrard County 44-22 in their semifinal win. Micah Miniard had 15 rebounds for a two-game total of 28, and four Rebels had three boards each.
“They beat us on the glass, and we told our kids the number one key tonight was neutralizing them on the boards, and we failed to do that,” Jackson said. “We’d get a couple of basket and try to make a run, and they shot and missed and we failed to get the rebound on two or three occasions. We’ve got to do a better job of rebounding the basketball.”
The Boyle County boys weren’t expected to repeat as district champions after heavy graduation losses, but they rebuilt themselves over the summer and refined their game over the winter to prepare for another postseason run.
And they pounced on their chance to claim another title Friday night, flooring Lincoln County in the first quarter and going on to a 67-54 victory in the 45th District Tournament championship at Rebel Arena.
The host Rebels outscored the Patriots 15-1 over the first 5 minutes, 17 seconds and were never threatened en route to a title that their returning players said was even sweeter than the one they won a year ago.
“It was nice the first time, and it’s even better because at the beginning of the year nobody said we could do anything,” Boyle forward Aram Martin said. “So to show everybody up is nice, man.”
Boyle lost six seniors, including four starters, after winning the district and reaching the regional finals last season, and most statewide previews rated the Rebels second or third in the five-team district before this season began.
“Losing what we lost from last year ... I don’t think people gave this bunch much credit or hope, and I think they were offended a little bit by that,” Boyle coach Steve Adams said.
Top-seeded Boyle (15-12) took it out on No. 3 seed Lincoln (15-17) right from the start Friday, as Hagen Tyler, Brett Jones and Chapman Bean sank three 3-point shots in an 87-second span to give the Rebels a 9-1 lead after 3:12 and kick off a run of 15 unanswered points that added fuel to their fire.
“We told ourselves, ‘Lincoln is a great shooting team, and if they come out hot in the first three minutes it’s going to be tough, so we’ve got to match their intensity,’” Martin said. “When we got up 15-1, I think we knew, basically, it was over then.”
Boyle went 4 for 6 from 3-point range and 7 for 11 overall from the field in the first quarter, while Lincoln missed its first six field-goal attempts and was 2 for 10 in the first period.
“That just got us more fired up and got our defense going. Then we all just started hitting shots, and the game went real well,” said Tyler, who scored eight points in the first quarter and led Boyle with 25 points.
Adams said it was important that the Rebels were playing well on both offense and defense at the same time.
“I think you’ve got to do both,” he said. “And it’s amazing how those two correlate. If you’re making shots, you’ve got more energy, you defend better. The kids just did a tremendous kob. We moved the basketball, knocked down open shots, didn’t hesitate, we just played.”
It was all too much for Lincoln, which never got closer than 13 points after Tyler’s 3-pointer with 1:39 left in the first half gave Boyle a 32-17 lead.
“They came out shooting the ball really, really well, and we didn’t do a very good job in the zone getting out and contesting their two best shooters,” Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson said. “They hit the first three 3s and we were down 9-to-1, and it makes it kind of tough. They built on that momentum.”
Boyle beat Lincoln for the third time in as many games this season, though both teams will advance to the 12th Region Tournament this week at Lincoln.
The Rebels hit at least half of their shots for the second straight game. They were 7 for 14 from 3-point range and 21 for 41 overall from the field, and they were 47 for 93 from the field in their two tournament games.
They also dominated the boards once again, outrebounding the Patriots 32-16 three days after they outrebounded Garrard County 44-22 in their semifinal win. Micah Miniard had 15 rebounds for a two-game total of 28, and four Rebels had three boards each.
“They beat us on the glass, and we told our kids the number one key tonight was neutralizing them on the boards, and we failed to do that,” Jackson said. “We’d get a couple of basket and try to make a run, and they shot and missed and we failed to get the rebound on two or three occasions. We’ve got to do a better job of rebounding the basketball.”
