The Times-Tribune
CORBIN — By Les Dixon / Sports Editor
Isaac Wilson, Aaron Manns, Luke Stewart and Madison Johnson etched their name in the Corbin Redhound history book by accomplishing a feat that no other Redhound team has accomplished since 1952 — repeat as 13th Region champions.
And they did it in fine fashion.
Corbin (27-3) fell behind 5-0 to open the game, but went on a 32-6 run during the final 12 minutes of the first half and never looked back during their 65-42 win over upstart North Laurel, which gave Pietrowski his 200th career victory in the process.
The Jaguars (16-18), who were playing in their first regional championship game since 2005, could never recover from falling behind 32-11 at halftime. The closest they got the remainder of the game was 19 points (53-34) with 5:47 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“The big key is that we came out and played solid on defense,” Pietrowski said. “We guarded their tails off tonight and we made some key stops and then went on the big run.
“This is a huge accomplishment this group of seniors have done,” he added. “This group of seniors in the next 20, 30 or 40 years will be mentioned with the Selvys and the Birds. They’ve won 105 games in four years and that’s a great accomplishment. I am very proud of them.”
Corbin came into the season with a lot of question marks, but quickly established itself as the team to beat in December and continued to be the remainder of the season.
The Redhounds suffered a big scare during the first round of the 13th Region Tournament against Bell County, but survived the four overtime game and then knocked off Clay County before rolling past North Laurel in the finals.
“I think you hit the nail on the head,” Pietrowski said. “We came into the season as one of the teams to beat, but then we began to gap ourselves and playing the No. 1 team role is not an easy thing to do.”
The bullseye didn’t bother the Redhounds at all in the title game. The Jaguars didn’t have an answer for none of the seniors, as they combined to score 48 of their team’s 65 points.
“Those are just a special group of guys,” Pietrowski said. “They have really dedicated themselves and worked hard to get to this point.”
13th Region Tournament MVP Isaac Wilson, Madison Johnson and Aaron Manns each scored 14 points apiece in the win, while Luke Stewart added a six-point effort.
Wilson, who scored a tournament-best 63 points, said winning the regional title never gets old.
“It’s a great feeling,” he admitted. “We’ve put a lot of hard work into this and it has paid off. We knew that we needed to come in here and take care of business and we did that. We played three tough teams, but we were able to get the wins.”
Pietrowski said Wilson is the best point guard he has coached.
“You don’t look at the size of the kid, you look at the size of his heart,” Pietrowski said. “He gets things done. He’s the best point guard I have coached and he just wants to win.”
Corbin put the finishing touches on the win in the fourth quarter by outscoring North Laurel, 16-12.
“Corbin is a very good team and they put some adversity in front of us and we just didn’t handle it well,” North Laurel coach Jim Conway said. “We didn’t make the extra pass tonight and I believe our guys felt the pressure and took it upon themselves tonight to make something happen.
“Not too many teams have this opportunity to play for the region championship and it’s sad that one of us has to lose,” he added.
Corbin finished the game connecting on 26-of-44 shot attempts from the floor and outrebounded the Jaguars, 26-19, while North Laurel hit only 16-of-39 shot attempts and five-of-17 in the first half.
“This is big for us,” Stewart said. “I’m just happy that I’m able to put my part in to help us win a regional championship. We’re going to be hard to beat next week.”
The Redhounds will face-off against either Scott County or Lafayette, as the two teams will face off in the 11th Region championship today.
“Right now, we’re just going to enjoy this win,” Pietrowski said. “We’ve got a week to get ready and we know we’re going to be underdogs, and we’ll see how we’re going to react to that role.”
13th Region Tournament Championship at The Arena
Corbin 65, North Laurel 42
North Laurel 9 2 19 12 42
Corbin 18 14 17 16 65
North Laurel (42) - Cheek 13, Shears 1, Baker 5, Wardrup 11, Likins 8, Spencer 4.
Corbin (65) - Wilson 14, Johnson 14, Taylor 10, Smith 7, Manns 14, Stewart 6.
