HAD THE HOT HAND FOR THE GATORS.
GREENWOOD (10-1) WILL FACE BARDSTOWN (8-1) IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME OF FRANKLIN-SIMPSON TOURNAMENT ON SATURDAY
FRANKLIN, Kentucky — Asher Pettus and the Greenwood High School boys basketball team seem to have something to prove.
Consider the Panthers across the state line, from Portland (Tennessee) High School, convinced.
“They’re pretty good,” Portland coach John Ferguson said after the Gators rolled to an 84-62 victory over his squad in the first semifinal of the Franklin Bank & Trust Tournament on Friday evening at Franklin-Simpson High School. “They’re an older group, they shoot the ball really well. We really didn’t do much, until the second half …”
Greenwood earned its 10th victory against a single defeat, a 50-45 loss to Graves County in tournament play on December 21. The Gators will tangle with Bardstown in the championship game on Saturday, with a tip-off scheduled for 4 p.m. Bardstown slipped past Franklin-Simpson, 54-50, in the second semifinal on Friday night.
Franklin-Simpson (2-6) will square off with Portland (5-5) in the third-place game.
TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
AGAINST THE BARDSTOWN TIGERS.
IN A VARIETY OF WAYS ON FRIDAY.
BY TEAMMATES ASHER PETTUS (LEFT)
AND TRANSFER KASH SAMPSON.
IN BOLTING TO A 51-24 HALFTIME LEAD.
Pettus, the Gators’ strapping 6-foot-4, 210-pound senior forward, led his squad to its 10th victory of the season, scoring a game-high 22 points, all in the first half. Pettus fought through injuries last season, as Greenwood limped home with a 14-17 overall record.
The Gators failed to win a game in KHSAA 14th District play, bowing out of the district tournament with a humbling 80-52 victory to crosstown rival Bowling Green High School.
As fate would have it, perhaps, veteran Greenwood coach Will McCoy’s team will open district play next Friday at home against Bowling Green.
Pettus and his Greenwood teammates, not surprisingly, are chomping at the bit to get going against the Purples.
ON LAST YEAR’s 14-17 OVERALL RECORD.
NEXT WEEK AGAINST BOWLING GREEN.
IS A PROMISING SOPHOMORE FORWARD.
DEFENDS AGAISNT THE PANTHERS.
“Once I hit my first shot tonight, I thought to myself, ‘Everything is goin’ in tonight,'” Pettus said outside the gymnasium hallway. “Especially on the 3-pointers … My teammates did a really good job of getting me the ball, we had a lot of enthusiasm out there tonight.
“I think we’ll match up really well with the other teams in our district (BGHS, Warren Central and South Warren). We’ll play (Bardstown) in (Saturday’s) game and then get back in the gym, get ready for Bowling Green.”
That’s music to the ears of his coach.
“We’ve got deep squad, 10 or 11 kids,” McCoy said. “We’ve got a lot of players who can score. They’re a selfless bunch, too. They cheer for each other, on the bench … Asher’s a big, strong kid. He’s shooting the ball really well.”
That’s what Portland coach John Ferguson saw, too.
The Panthers, a Sumner County (Tennessee) team near the state line, trailed 28-11 after the first quarter. Sophomore guard Halo Sisson hit a fallaway jumper at the buzzer, and the Gators rolled with that momentum.
“The guys understand we’re going to roll with the hot hand,” McCoy said.
ON HIS OVERALL GAME,
INCLUDING HIS DEFENSE.
GIVES THE GATORS SIZE INSIDE.
WITH AN EIGHT-GAME WINNING STREAK.
IN FRIDAY’s GAME AGAINST PORTLAND.
Pettus took over in the second quarter, scoring inside and from the perimeter, and teammates such as senior guard Nick Simpson, junior forward/center Ojare Murrell, senior forward Garrett Hatcher and sophomore guard Kash Sampson were attacking the basket, too. Sampson is a transfer from Sparta High School in White County, Tennessee.
“Greenwood has always been overlooked,” Sampson said. “We’d definitely like to change that. We’re hungry. Everyone around here seems to be taking us for granted.”
Sampson finished the game with 13 points, while Simpson finished with 10. Evan Ferguson, the son of Portland coach John Ferguson, connected on four 3-points to lead the Panthers with 12 points.
Greenwood has posted impressive victories over the likes of North Hardin — an 83-82 victory over the Trojans in the Barren Hoops Classic on December 14 — along with Owensboro Catholic, playing without its football players on Opening Night, and Central Hardin. The Gators rolled past Central Hardin, 80-59, on December 16.
“I think we’ll match up well with our district opponents, too,” junior GHS forward Ojare Murrell said. “I think we’ve made a lot of improvement over the last few weeks.”
Asher Pettus’ father, Jason Pettus, was a defensive lineman for the Middle Tennessee State football squad in the early ’90s. Greenwood coach Will McCoy likes Asher Pettus’ toughness near the basket and ability to create his own shot.
By the same token, he also knows that the KHSAA 14th District is LOADED, as it always is. Warren Central has reached the state tournament in three consecutive seasons, while winning a state championship with a dominant squad in 2022-23, while Bowling Green is no stranger to the state tournament at UK’s Rupp Arena, either. South Warren, under second-year coach Carlos Quarles, also has shown significant improvement.
“Everybody in the district has one or two losses, maybe three at the most,” McCoy said. “Nobody is playing easy schedules. I think the (KHSAA) 4th Region will come through our district, like it usually does.”
‘I THINK THE 4th REGION WILL COME
THROUGH OUR (14th) DISTRICT …’
AND HIS FAMILY AT FRANKLIN-SIMPSON.
SPORTS SCRIBBLER BRIAN DAVIS
RETURNS FROM THE HOSPITALITY ROOM …
‘PUT ME IN COACH, I’m READY TO PLAY …’
HER EYE ON THE PRIZE, OR IN
HER CASE, THE TREATS.