Scott County makes sweet statement with rout of Henry Clay in 11th Region finals
After two losses in the last two weeks, No. 1 Scott County wanted to make a statement Friday night in the 11th Region championship.
And after 58-38 blowout of No. 2 Henry Clay in front of an estimated 5,000 fans in the 11th Region finals at Eastern Kentucky’s McBrayer Arena, the Cardinals can consider it done.
“You know what? I could see it in their eyes,” Scott County Coach Billy Hicks said of his team’s demeanor before the game. “We never said a word. The team meal? Nobody spoke. The locker room? Nobody ever spoke. This team was ready to play tonight.”
Cardinals senior forward Michael Moreno earned tournament MVP honors in just his fifth game back from a foot injury that cost him half the season. Moreno bullied his way to 13 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks while also dishing out three assists in just 20 minutes.
Moreno still feels like he has more in the tank.
“I’m making improvements,” he said. “Rebounding the ball, I didn’t crash as hard because I was a little more scared, but I have nothing to lose now, so I’ve got to play as hard as I can.”
The Cardinals, ranked No. 1 throughout the season and a favorite to make it back to the Sweet Sixteen championship game for the second straight year, got a wake up call against this same Henry Clay in the 42nd District finals last Friday, taking a 78-71 loss.
This time, the Cardinals focused on limiting the Blue Devils’ big three in Marques Warrick, Harris Hawkins and Keaston Brown. They held Warrick to nine points, 11 off his average, and kept Hawkins to seven, half his norm. Henry Clay shot 27.3 percent from the field, including just four of 18 makes from three-point range.
“We just played a lot harder than we did last Friday. We took a beating last Friday against a very tough team in a tough environment. But as a team, we stepped up our defense and our rebounding,” Moreno said.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals focused on getting the ball under the basket and converting offensive rebounds (19) into second-chance points (22). Scott County outscored Henry Clay 36-14 in the paint, practically eschewing the three-point shot with just three makes in 10.
“We wanted to establish an inside game and we did. We really took it at them,” Hicks said.
Henry Clay hung with the Cardinals for a quarter, entering the second period with the game tied at 14, but it soon unraveled. The Blue Devils scored four points in the second on one field goal and two free throws as they shot 1-for-12, including 0-for-5 from the three-point line. And attempts to drive inside were met with four blocks in the quarter. Moreno had three of those blocks, including two on back-to-back possessions, sending the nearby Cardinals’ student section into a frenzy.
Those woes helped Scott County stretch the lead to nine at the half, 27-18. That lead doubled in the third quarter as the Cardinals pounded the ball down low. Moreno scored seven of his 13 in the third with Lorenzo Williams adding another four. Williams finished with six points and 10 rebounds.
Terrin Hamilton also contributed 13 points and seven rebounds for the Cardinals. Bryce Long added 11.
Scott County is the first three-peat 11th Region champion since old Dunbar High School from 1963-65. Now, the Cards (32-3) go to the Sweet Sixteen in Rupp Arena next week with a senior-laden No. 1 team looking for the program’s third state title.
“We’re looking to push it as far as we can,” Moreno said. “We have a maximum of four games left. It’s not much. We’re going to go as hard as we can go for the next 32 (minutes) and just leave it all out there.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2019 at 11:07 PM.
