The Lyon County Lyons are looking for their 4th straight regional championship, while Henderson County, Madisonville, and five other teams are looking to end the Lyons’ recent run as the boys’ 2nd Region tournament gets underway Wednesday night at Madisonville-North Hopkins High School.
This year’s tournament schedule is set up a little different due to the Boys’ Sweet 16 being two weeks after the girls as the University of Kentucky is one of the NCAA Tournament first-round sites the week of March 19.
The road to the Sweet 16 is now set following Saturday morning’s tournament draw.
Play will begin Wednesday night with a pair of quarterfinals games. The first game with have Madisonville-North Hopkins taking on Livingston Central.
The Maroons (15-12) are the 7th District champions. The Maroons opened the season at 7-0. Madisonville comes into the tournament with a 5-2 record against teams in the tournament.
Livingston Central (9-20) ended up as the runner-up in the 5th District after losing to Lyon County Friday night in the district championship game. The Cardinals struggled a bit down the stretch, winning just one of their final seven games.
The Maroons and the Cardinals did not meet during the regular season.
The second game Wednesday night will see Christian County taking on Union County.
Christian County (8-22) is the champion out of the 8th District. The Colonels are playing their best basketball of the year heading into the regional tournament. The Colonels won three of their last four games, including district tourney wins over UHA and Hopkinsville.
Union County (15-10) comes in as the runner-up in the 6th District. The Braves won five of their last eight games heading into the region tournament. Union County is 3-4 against teams in the tournament field.
The Braves and the Colonels also did not meet during the regular season.
The other two quarterfinal games will take place Thursday night. The 6pm contest Thursday will have Henderson County going against Hopkinsville.
Henderson County (22-6) is the 6th District champion. The Colonels have won 8 of the last 9. The loss in that stretch was on the road against Louisville Trinity. Henderson’s only loss to a 2nd Region team during the season came on the road at Madisonville.
Hopkinsville (15-15) lost to Christian County Friday night and is the runner-up in the 8th District. The Tigers have won 9 of 12 heading into the regional. The losses during that time were to Daviess County, Paducah Tilghman, and Christian County.
The Colonels and the Tigers met back in December with Henderson County taking an 83-56 win.
The second game Thursday night will have Lyon County going up against Dawson Springs.
Lyon County (24-7) is the three-time defending region champion, defending state champion, and the winner of the 5th District. The Lyons have won 8 of 9 with the only loss late in the season coming on the road at St. Mary. The Lyons reached the championship game of the All A Classic in January in Owensboro.
The Dawson Springs Panthers (17-15) hit some bumps in the road late, going 3-6 to finish out the season. The Panthers also will be under the guidance of interim head coach Dylan Simpson. The Panthers ended up 3-5 against teams that made the tournament field.
The Lyons and the Panthers met once during the regular season with Lyon County winning 107-65.
The two semifinal games will take place on Tuesday, March 11 at 6pm and 7:30pm.
The boys’ 2nd Region championship game will be Tuesday, March 18 at 7pm at Madisonville-North Hopkins.
