The Times-Tribune
CORBIN — Special to The Times-Tribune
The Knox Central Boys’ Basketball Team will be honored at the March 23rd meeting of the Knox County Board of Education in Barbourville.
The Panthers, led by Coach Brian Evans, recently won the 51st District Tournament and then nearly unseated South Laurel in the 13th Regional Tournament held March 4th at The Arena in Corbin.
In that game, in true heartbreaker style, Knox Central led much of the contest before falling behind in the fourth quarter. But the Panthers roared back to tie the game, 53-all, with only seconds to go.
Then, with only 3 seconds on the clock, and nearly everyone thinking the game was going into overtime, the refs whistled a foul on K.C. that resulted in a Cardinal making a free throw that won it for South Laurel, 54-53.
“All in all, I was really proud of how the team came along this season,” Head Coach Brian Evans commented this week. “Obviously, as a coach, you want the players to come along quickly, more quickly than it happens a lot of times, but still you want to be playing your best at the end, and we were.
“The game we lost in the region could have gone either way. We were right there and had a chance to win. You know, you win that one and you’re into the regional semis and you’re two games away from Rupp Arena.”
Coach Evans will be the first to admit that it hasn’t been an easy journey for him or his team during his first season as head coach of the Panthers, who finished with a 14-13 record.
“Obviously with me coming in as a new coach, there’s always a period where there’s an adjustment for the players and coaches – getting to know each other and understand where you’re coming from as a coach and where the players are coming from.”
This “adjustment” took time, Evans said, even though he had coached most of the players in the middle school, “because it’s a different level of play.”
Then, there was this: two key players, guard Jonathan Barger and center Tobie Merida, had injuries which “slowed us down as well.” Barger tore ligaments in his thumb in early January and didn’t return until the final week of play during the regular season. Merida had a broken nose and an ankle injury during the season.
“All those things factor in,” Evans said, “but a little over halfway through the year, we started to figure things out, offensively and defensively – how we needed to play – and the guys began to understand the roles they needed to fill.”
The Panthers’ offense was the first the thing that “clicked.” Said Evans: “The guys began to understand that and said, ‘hey, if we’re going to be successful, if we’re going to win, we’re going to have to do these things: we have to work to get a good shot. We can’t take quick shots. We’re got to break the defense down. Now here’s how, in our offensive scheme, we do that.’ It just takes time to learn those things. That was the first thing to click.”
This occurred, the coach said, about halfway through the season. On January 19th, for example, the Panthers, who were playing without Barger and Merida, lost to South Laurel by 11 points, 54-65, on the road. K.C. had lost to that same team on Dec. 21st on the road by 34 points, 57-91.
“We did a lot of good things in order to be in that game in January,” Evans said, “so we knew we could play with them.”
Then, just towards the end of the season, the Panthers’ defense began to “click.”
“Very late in the year, we began to defend the way we needed. That’s when we really started to play well in both parts of the game.”
Fortunately for the Panthers, this defensive effort peaked in post-season play against Lynn Camp and Barbourville in the District Tournament and against South Laurel in the regional.
The Panthers started playing with “urgency,” Evans said, that is the hallmark of all good teams.
“That’s where the players feel that if we don’t get a stop this time, the end of the world is coming. You have to have that kind of mentality.
“We played that way at times during the season, but never really put that together for an entire game or almost an entire game until the end. We did that and we became a pretty good team and a tough team to play against.”
In the District, in both its games, Knox Central held their opponents to very low point totals for more than three-quarters of the game. Both opponents, Lynn Camp and Barbourville, are “teams that can score,” Evans said, but each had only 38 points at the end of the third quarter. Lynn Camp and Barbourville both had “runs” in the fourth quarter against the Panthers, but they were not enough. K.C. defeated the Wildcats 75-70 and then the Tigers 77-63.
That effort continued into the regional, but the Panthers then came up short by one point against South Laurel.
Other highlights for the Panthers during the 2009-2010 season, Evans noted, include defeating Harlan County 71-57, Science Hill, Tenn., 78-74, and Bell County 44-41, the latter team emerging as one of the best in the region during the one-point loss to Corbin.
Knox Central was led this year by the team’s only senior, Cody Miller (No. 21), who made 1st Team All-Region. Miller, who’s 6-5, led the team in scoring, averaging 20.7 points a game, and in rebounding with 9.9 a game. He also led the Panthers in 3-point field goal percentage and was second on team in assists and free throw percentage. Cody ended his career as Knox Central’s boys’ all-time leading scorer, with over 2,500 points in five seasons of varsity play.
Another standout for K.C. was junior Travis Canady (No. 11), who made 2nd Team All Region. Travis Canady averaged 12.6 points and 5.8 rebounds a game. He led the team in free throw percentage, making 76.5% of his shots.
Sophomore Tanner Broughton (No. 12) averaged 11.3 points and 2.5 rebounds a game. He led the Panthers with 3.4 assists per game.
Freshman center Tobie Merida (No. 34), who’s 6-6, averaged 5.9 points and 4.2 rebounds a game, while leading the team with a 61.2-percent field goal percentage.
Sophomore Kyle Combs (No. 15) averaged 4.1 points and 3.0 rebounds a game and was “a key defensive player” for the Panthers.
Sophomore Jonathan Barger (No. 5) averaged 7.6 points and 2.0 rebounds a game and gave the Panthers “a spark” upon his return from a thumb injury towards the end of the season.
Other key players were Billy Barrett (No. 22) and Brent Mills (No. 3), who both played big roles during the season as part-time starters and key reserves. Tyler Stewart (No. 33), Gilmore Achenjang (No. 1), T.J. Kelly (30), Jacob Wilburn ( No. 4), and Devon Mills (No. 23) were also instrumental in the success of the team.
Coach Evans was assisted by Jon Green, Bo Maybrier and Kyle Stacy. Gary Mills and James Campbell were equipment managers, and Ken Merida was the official scorer.
