No. 1 vs. No. 2 for Sweet Sixteen title

No. 1 Scott County will play No. 2 Ballard in the championship game of the 90th Sweet Sixteen tonight, just like it was mapped out four months ago when they were rated 1-2 in the preseason polls. As Ballard Coach Chris Renner said after his team dodged an upset by Warren Central this afternoon: “I think this will be a special state championship game because you do have the two best teams in it. I don’t know if that happens very often.”

Scott County is 33-2 overall, 29-0 against Kentucky opponents. Ballard is 35-2 and riding a 26-game winning streak. But stuck in the Bruins’ minds are harsh memories of an 88-67 loss to Scott County the first week of the season. “It was probably our worst game all season,” Ballard senior Johonne Hamilton said. “It’s a great opportunity to get play them again for the state championship.” In that first meeting, Ballard shot 26% (20-for-76). Twany Beckham had 15 points and 20 rebounds in that game, but he and Hamilton were a combined 6-for-29 shooting.

Scott County Coach Billy Hicks’ Cardinals played their best game of the tournament yesterday when they beat Holmes. They’ll have to play even better to beat Ballard. Guards Bud Mackey and Matt Walls (shown at left against Holmes) will have to handle the Bruins’ suffocating pressure defense and hit their open shots. Ballard attacks the boards like a hungry pack of, well, Bruins. In the first game against Ballard, Walls had 31 points and Mackey had 25. They shot a combined 19-for-41, including 7-for-14 on threes.

After Warren Central lost to Ballard this morning, Dragons Coach Tim Riley said, “I think maybe Ballard is playing better than anybody.” His key to the title game? “You can’t let Ballard get in the lane. If they do, they’re so athletic and so strong.” Riley also said Scott County will get some open looks when it breaks Ballard’s pressure, and when they do “they’ve got to bury those.”

Ballard and Scott County met once before in the state finals. Ballard crushed the Cards 71-47 in the 1998 championship game, denying Scott County back-to-back titles.