CORBIN — Defense has been one of the constants for the Bell County Bobcats during perhaps the best regular season since the school opened in 1984.
They added yet another impressive performance Wednesday in the opening game of the 13th Region Tournament at The Corbin Arena. A Clay County team with perhaps the best inside attack in the region took only seven shots inside the 3-point line in the first half and missed them all as Bell took a 20-13 halftime lead on the way to a 46-30 victory.
The Tigers, who closed the season at 20-10, didn’t record its first two-point goal until Adon Grubb scored with 20 seconds left in the third period, ending a streak of 15 minutes without a basket. Clay shot only 20 percent (eight of 40) from the field in the game.
“I probably drove our kids crazy because I was back and forth on what we were going to do defensively. We got in that diamond-and-one, and I thought Jaxon (Thomas) did a great job. We were able to cut their main guys off,” Bell County coach Brad Sizemore said. “They have a really good team, and we knew it was a tough draw. You hope when you get that first win against a good team it will get the momentum going forward.”
“Our whole game plan offensively was to attack off the bounce or attack off the pass inside. We thought we could hurt them inside with Grubb and (Aiden) Wagers,” Clay County coach Michael Jones said. “We just didn’t do that the first half for whatever reason.”
Junior forward Ethan Buell led a balanced Bell attack with 14 points. Braxton Ferguson tossed in 13, and Blake Burnett added 11.
Grubb, a junior forward, led Clay with 12 points. Wagers, a senior center, scored nine.
Even with all their offensive struggles, the Tigers made a late run as Grubb scored seven straight on a basket and five of six free throws to pull Clay within six with 2:38 left. The Tigers didn’t score again as Bell reeled off nine straight points to end the game, beginning with Ferguson’s back-breaking 3 with 2:03 left the game.
“We hit a little wall in the fourth quarter,” Sizemore said. “I don’t know if it was from playing so hard defensively. They made their run, but then our kids responded. I thought Ferguson’s 3 was huge.”
“In the second half we did a better job of attacking and got back in the game,” Jones said. “Ferguson’s big 3 there broke our backs. We thought coming into the season that offense would carry us and we’d come around defensively. We just haven’t played well offensively the last few games.”
Jones was pleased with the Tigers’ defensive performance.
“When the draw came out, we heard the noise that Bell was already in the finals,” he said. “We were locked in as much as we have all year. They didn’t run anything offensively we didn’t prepare for, and I thought we battled our butts off defensively. You’ll make mistakes defensively, but our kids battled.”
Bell County will advance to play Whitley County on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals.
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Bell County (46) — Blake Burnett 10, Jaxon Thomas 3, Braxton Ferguson 13, Ethan Buell 14, Cayden Huff 4, Gavin Barton 2, Braylon Cloud 0, Dalton Black 0.
Clay County (30) — Brody Hooker 0, Jacob Rogers 0, Jay Nicholson 0, Adon Grubb 12, Aiden Wagers 9, Maxton Gray 6, Skylyr Sizemore 3.
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Clay County 9 4 4 13 — 30
Bell County 9 11 11 15 — 46