BC holds-off late run; East is short in OT

SHEPHERDSVILLE – Bad weather this winter has forced a lot of changes to the local basketball schedules and that was certainly the case late last week for both the boys’ teams from Bullitt Central and Bullitt East.
Bullitt Central had long been scheduled for play Whitefield Academy on Thursday, but because of recent problems, Whitefield had to reschedule a game with Fern Creek and one of the few dates was on Thursday. So, the Bullitt Central game with Whitefield will now be played on Monday, Feb. 17 at Whitefield.
So, Cougar head coach Joe Pat Lee got on the internet and phone lines and rescheduled an earlier game that had been postponed by snow against Henry County from two weeks earlier. That put the Cougars on a bus to New Castle on Thursday.
It all worked out for the best as Bullitt Central picked up a solid victory as they went on the road and beat Henry County 69-62 despite practicing just once over the previous four days.
“Henry County is a good team. They have won 14 games,” Lee pointed out the next day. “We played great defense in the first half and held them to 16 points.”
With that defense, Bullitt Central jumped out to a 32-16 lead by halftime. The lead grew to as many as 20 points in the third quarter before the Wildcats, former Eighth Region rivals of the Cougars, made a big run and cut the lead to as little as three points before Lee’s team hit some late free throws to secure the win.
“They trapped us,” Lee said of the fourth quarter problems. “Our guard play right then was bad and we turned it over. We did hit some free throws and grabbed some rebounds to get the win.”
Bullitt Central had a solid one-two punch as senior Brett Bourland had 23 points and 17 rebounds along with fellow senior Zach Humphrey pumping in 21 points as he made a trio of three-pointers.
The Cougars had a final tune-up on Friday against Holy Cross before they play host to Bullitt East at home on Tuesday. It is the only meeting of the season between the two county rivals.

Thursday at Henry Co.
BULLITT CENTRAL 69 (15-17-13-24) Chase Craddock 8, Jacob Wampler 4, Zach Humphrey 21, Brett Bourland 23, Colin Trent 2, Cameron Dukes 9, Roy Crable 2.
HENRY COUNTY 62 (8-8-21-25) Young 20, Wonder 5, New 4, Estes 9, Howard 13, West 8, Cruse 3.

BE Hits the Road
Back when the games lost to bad weather started to accumulate, Bullitt East head coach Bob Blackburn posted the need for games and picked up a meeting with Dixie Heights for Thursday.
At first, the two teams were just going to play a single varsity games in Mount Washington. Later, it grew into a JV-varsity doubleheader in northern Kentucky. Dixie Heights will now play a game in Mount Washington next season.
The two teams are evenly matched as Dixie Heights pulled out a 69-62 overtime win last week. Bullitt East led for most of the game, but were outscored 33-25 in the second half to force the overtime. Then, the Chargers scored just two points as the home team pulled away.
Bullitt East (17-5) got 19 points from sophomore Tyler Sharpe as he connected on five three-pointers. The Chargers also got 16 points from junior Tyler Bacon and 12 from senior Rhett Troutman.
Brandon Hatton led all scorers in the game with 26 for Dixie Heights (16-6) including four three-pointers.
Bullitt East played on Saturday night (see Wednesday’s edition for a report on that game) before having a big week this week. The Chargers will play at Bullitt Central on Tuesday and then have a rescheduled game on Thursday against Jeffersontown. That Thursday game will also be homecoming in Mount Washington.

Thursday at Dixie Heights
BULLITT EAST 62 (23-12-11-14-2) Rhett Troutman 12, Ezra Troutman 8, Tyler Bacon 16, Bailey Rakes 7, Tyler Sharpe 19.
DIXIE HEIGHTS 69 (19-8-15-18-9) Schreck 6, Rabe 6, Meyer 2, Daria 14, Isbel 3, Bolin 2, Moore 2, Hedger 6, Hatton 26, Nichols 2.