March Madness – the games are underway

As I pen this week’s column, a good chunk of the high school basketball teams in Kentucky are looking out the window at the baseball and softball diamonds, because already, basketball season has ended for several with the first round of district tournament play now behind us.

Monday night, at the Castle, we watched the Russell County Lady Lakers end the season for Metcalfe County’s Lady Hornets in the opening round and later that night, our Dawgs dispatched the Hornets in similar fashion.

That same thing happened in gymnasiums across the Commonwealth Monday night, and it continued on Tuesday night as well, both here and across the state.

As the week continues, high school roundball fans will continue to make their way into gymnasiums to cheer their high school teams on as we work our way through the bracket systems, into the finals and next week into the regional tournament rounds.

Locally, we move into the championship rounds on Thursday (girls) and Friday (boys) nights and all I know at this stage in the week, is that the Lady Lakers will be facing the winner of Tuesday night’s contest between our Lady Dawgs and the Lady Panthers of Cumberland County, and our Bulldogs will be playing in the title matchup against Tuesday night’s Russell County – Cumberland County winner.

A couple of other related, and unrelated notes concerning this week’s action, and other basketball news leftovers.

Thunderstorms aren’t new

First off – last week’s Barren County contest and the storm delay. I caught a lot of flack (fun natured) after my decision to not join hundreds of people in a sardine packed hallway for a thunderstorm warning last Thursday night, and instead driving back home.

Not knowing how long we would be detained inside that hallway – again just for a thunderstorm warning – was the basis of my decision, and the result was apparently missing the game of the season for Clinton County – a double OT win.

So – I stand by my call. Been doing this a long time, never saw a gym evacuated for a simple thunderstorm before. Still – missing a double OT win was a hard cookie to swallow.

Radio Auction another tremendous success and the youth win big

On to the Friday night Booster Club Auction – what a great success. The donations were plentiful and as always, first class and the level of hard work by the crew on hand, from top to bottom, was one of the best we’ve ever had.

The glitches were few, the confusion was seldom and in the long run, the program was another tremendous example of just how this small community can come together for a common cause when it’s a good cause – our youth.

Although there are a few items yet to be picked up, it looks like the unofficial tally is somewhere in the neighborhood of just under $8,000.

Scoring feats

There have been a couple of significant scoring plateaus reached in recent days that deserve a word of congratulations.

In the February 6 contest against Caverna, Bulldog guard Keifer Dalton dropped in his 1,500th career point for Clinton County. That milestone was inadvertently overlooked until the game was over, so we didn’t get to announce it when it happened. Keifer is just a junior – I’m sure we’ll get more chances.

On Monday night during the district tournament game against Metcalfe County, Bulldog forward Colby Langford stood at the free throw line and sank his 1,500th point.

Tremendous accomplishments for both, and both are offered up “congrats” from myself as well as a host of fans. In addition to being fantastic players, both of them – as is true with this year’s entire squad – are outstanding young men and represent Clinton County in a manner we can certainly all be proud of.

As for myself, well you can find me somewhere near the hardwood for the next several weeks, because although the calendar still says “February”, it’s . . .

March Madness in Kentucky – don’t call me until April!