 Welcome in to another edition of Cal Down to Tip Off, a high school basketball spotlight show brought to you by East Kentucky Broadcasting EKB TV. It's presented by Pikeville Medical Center. I'm Andrew Joyce, your host and sports director at East Kentucky Broadcasting. On this edition, we'll have game highlights coming up from featured games throughout the area. Also, player and coach interviews will take a look at this week's Player of the Week nominations. Players individually in the spotlight with tremendous performances. We'll check in on the University of Pikeville Bears basketball program as well. Last week, ranked number two in the nation and we'll have an update of the Associated Press boys basketball poll for the Commonwealth and look at key games coming up this week around the area. Let's get things started as we'll step to the Frankfurt Convention Center and the Kentucky Boys All-Age State Basketball Tournament. Last Thursday, Shelby Valley representing the 15th region taking on Campbellsville in the opening round. Hunter Swindle had 26 points in the win and Shelby Valley defeats Campbellsville 58-46 to advance to the quarterfinals. In quarterfinal action on Friday, Owen County defeated Shelby Valley 56-52 in overtime. Corey Hamilton with 14 points to lead the Wildcats. In other action from last Friday around the area, it was Pikeville dropping Allen Central 76-55, a huge game from Wyatt Battle, 26 points and Zach Huffman had a double-double 10 points and 10 boards for the Panthers. In the East Kentucky Broadcasting TV, Game of the Week, Betsy Lane and South Floyd, a 58th district battle and we saw some tremendous individual performances in this one. Let's take a look at the highlights. How about some Floyd County basketball, 58th district, Betsy Lane, one of the top-ranked teams in the entire 15th region, South Floyd looks to change that. What else do you expect? Peyton Case on target early, top of the key, a three-point shot, but South Floyd works it down the floor to big man Clifton Trammel. He's the go-to guy, back to a one-possession game early, but just in case you missed the first one, here's another one, Peyton Case, he finished the game with 17 points. Trammel answers, but it's just math at this point, three's for Betsy Lane and two's for South Floyd, Bobcat's lead. And another three, this time from number three, Dalton Maldonado, he cashes in there. Tackett splits the double team and somehow controls it for a shot, makes it count. Into the first half, big players make big plays at big times. Dustin Rodgers, right before the buzzer, 29-21 at the half and he didn't waste time getting used to the rim on the other side, knocks this one down to start the second half. He led scoring with 20 and Betsy Lane takes over at this point, Case with a hard-fought one underneath, and this guy's not even in high school yet, no worries, he can shoot it from anywhere. Kyle Watkins hit two threes in the game, Ethan Hall at the other end drains a mid-range J and he can shoot it from anywhere too, this time a three from the left corner. 10-point game, Bobcat's on top, Oozly hits from the outside, about 24 feet out. NBA range, but Betsy Lane continues to stretch at Charles Daniels. On the runner-in side here, he scored 16 in the game, and the steal's nice, Andrew Tackett scores some transition points after some nice defense, but the home net's just not friendly. Ball gets stuck in there for a second. And the other Tackett here, this is J-R, I think it stands for J-Rain because he just, J-Rain, the three. Betsy Lane gets the win though, final score, 70-55. Bobcat's will have the number one seed in the 58th District Tournament. I'm Caleb Knoe and this is Countdown to Tip-Off on EKB-TV, and now we send it back to the studio. Andrew? That's Betsy Lane with a 70-55 win over the Raiders of South Floyd. Peyton Case led the way with 21 points. Laco Daniels, 17 points, 18 rebounds for the double-double. Dustin Rogers also added 17 for the Bobcat's in the win. In other action, Saturday night, key games, Eastridge, the Warriors taking on McGuffin County. On the road, in Sayersville, Johnny Miller blistered the nets for 19 as the Warriors knocked off the Hornets 59-45. In other action, Pikeville hosting Greenup County in a game featuring the 16th Region Greenup County team. Taking on Pikeville, the Panthers get the win, 70-62. Zach Huffman, another big game. 19 points, 14 rebounds for the double-double. And Wyatt Battle added 18 for the Panthers. Great action last week. Shelby Valley a good showing at the Kentucky All-A state tournament. And we know the Wildcat fans feel that their team came up a little short, losing a tough heartbreaker in overtime in the quarter-finals. Great action as teams prepare for the final stretch run, heading toward tournament time coming up later this month. You're tuned to countdown to tip-off. We've got a lot more coming up for you, including the Kentucky Boys, Associated Press, High School basketball, Paul. There's a mountain team in the top five. Also, we'll take a look at this past Tuesday's key match-ups around the area. Still to come, the Player of the Week nominations and this week's Player of the Week and key games coming up this weekend. Paul, still to come on this edition of Countdown to Tip-Off. And welcome back to Countdown to Tip-Off. It's a high school boys' basketball spotlight show, presented by Pikeville Medical Center. I'm Andrew Joyce, sports director at EKB and your host for the program. High school basketball, Tuesday night, a big night throughout the region and across the Commonwealth. And it's no different here in the mountains and on EKB. In action from this Tuesday, Pikeville defeated Prestonsburg, 62-50. It was Harlan County, the Black Bears knocking off Eastridge, 67-50. And in our EKB TV game of the week, Pike Central, 83-75 winners over Belfry to secure the top seat in the 60th district. Let's go to the highlights. Pike Central 14-10, 5-1 in district play, Belfry 5-14, but 3-1 in the 60th district. First quarter, Trey Price pushes the Pirates ahead from the right side with a deep ball. And Fanon would add to it with a Trey here. He led scoring for Belfry with 23. Pike Central and Brad Elkins with a steal. And it's an all expenses paid trip coast to coast. Took him two tries to get it to fall, but got the second one and still a tight one in the second quarter. Then coach May brought in the secret weapon, it's Hunter Clark. Bangs in the triple, but this one's worth another watch. Check it out, a high ball screen from Tibbs. Fanon not falling for it, but Elkins takes advantage of the zone, uses the screen anyway. The backside guard has shooter responsibility, but he's forced to cut off the drive though. But hey, that's just what Elkins wanted. Nice floor vision from Elkins, good recognition from the sophomore Clark. And hey, he'll gladly take the honor, splash. And I don't know, but number three is knocking down threes. Fanon answers for Belfry, you just can't leave that guy open anywhere. But remember that secret weapon, well, here he is again and again. Absolutely lit up the scoreboard in the second quarter from the perimeter. Came off the bench to score 11 in the first half alone. And that was one big reason that Pike Central was able to jump ahead. But on the other end, this is Austin Woolham. He's not number three, but he has a number three on his jersey. He's number 23 and he puts three on the board here. Teams just trading points right now and the guy you can't miss on the court is huge, Ethan Blackburn. Had a few blocked shots in the game. Here's one of them. He's just a force inside. But in transition, here's the basketball. Would you believe me if I said this guy gets a steal? Well, I haven't lied to you yet. It's Trey Price doing what he does so well. And on his shoulders, Belfry fights back into the game. Nice pass inside to Trey Price, makes the shot as the zone collapses. He'll go to the line to make it a three point play the old fashioned way. And suddenly it's a four point game. Pike Central would stretch it back out and Blackburn gets another big shot block here. Oh, fumble. I gotta love the hustle from the big man. And just one more time. Show me some Hunter Clark a blocked shot in the hands of Elkins. And whoa, kids got handles. Unselfish pass in transition. Teddy Smith tax on two. Pike Central gets the win 83 to 75, clenching the top seed in the 60th district tournament. Belfry plays Lawrence County tonight to decide the two and three seeds. But in all reality, it doesn't really matter much. They'll play each other again in the first round of the tournament. I'm Caleb Knoe for EKB TV. For supposed game comments and interviews, let's throw it over to Makayla. I'm Makayla Colley reporting for EKB TV, where the Pike County Central Hawks took on the Belfry Pirates tonight in a 60th district matchup. The Pike County Central Hawks came out on top, 83-75 against the Pirates. Now let's speak to Pike Central's head coach, Keith Faye. How do you think the game went tonight? Scary at times because we know they're very athletic. They can take people off the dribble. We definitely had the size on them, but we worried about that because we knew with their speed they could get to the basket. Their goal was to make sure we kept them out of the paint and focused on that a lot. We've done that early, then late in the game, we kind of let them back in it by not focusing on it. Definitely. My momentum was a huge role in this game with you guys going back and forth. There wasn't much foul trouble, but there was a lot of fouls on both sides. How do you think that played a role? It played a big role. Our big guy got in foul trouble early, which to me normally that hurts us. But today with Belfry's athletic ability, it made us smaller, but it made us more athletic to be able to match up a little bit better with them. But when he came back in his second half, they had no answer for a big guy inside. I think our biggest thing was, you know, we knew they were going to focus on packing the 2-3 in against us. Our key, I'll be honest with you, I thought it was our playoff the bench of Hunter Clark hitting a couple of jumpers outside. And then the second half, Brad Elkins hit a big three to start the second half. That kind of brought them out of it. They extended the 2-3 and then left their inside game more open. Do you think this win is going to give your team more momentum to finish out the rest of the season? Yes, I do, because there's seniors now, or they finished the district regular season at 6-0. It's one goal we wanted to accomplish. Our seniors also have finished with five straight wins against Belfry, which, to be honest with you, in school history, I don't know if any senior group can actually say that. Anything else you'd like to add? No, I just hope we continue to play good and hope they're the good Lord of Blessings. Now let's speak to junior guard Hunter Clark, who averages six points a game, but off the bench scored 14-9 against the Belfry Pirates. Hunter, how do you think the game went tonight? I think it went really well, because we played like a family and we handled the adversity of the big crowd that Belfry had, and we just came out and did our thing. You know, 6-0 in the district feels great. Hopefully we can carry it on the district tournament, make it the region, hopefully make it the rub. How do you think you and your team are playing right now to get you into the rest of the season? We're playing good, but we still haven't reached our peak. We've still got a lot to learn. We still, I mean, the only good thing about us, we've been playing together for a long time, and it's just like a family on and off the court. Momentum definitely played a big role in this game. How do you think that was? Momentum did play a huge role. I mean, it does in every game, but tonight it's a bit of a robbery, so it helps out a lot. I'm McKayla Colley, covering the Pike Central, Belfry, 60th district matchup reporting for EKB TV. Back to you in the studio, Andrew. Thanks so much. That's Pike Central and Belfry, our EKB TV game of the week. We've got a lot more on the way, including the Kentucky High School basketball associated press poll. We'll have our Player of the Week nominations, and of course, this week's Player of the Week, brought to you by Hutch Chevrolet. Before we go there and look at key games coming up this weekend, it's time to check in on the University of Pikeville basketball team. Last week, ranked number two in the nation top, the Mid-South Conference standings. Let's check in on U-Pike. U-Pike's men's basketball team consistently ranked in the top five this season nationally is in the regular season home stretch. Head coach Kelly Wells says it's a special team with plenty of potential. Well, with this particular group, we're currently ranked number five in the country, 21 and 2. We've lost two games in the conference, so two very good teams, both on the road. We have a big vision for this team, and it kind of starts day to day. We've got to get better each day, and hopefully that will lead to great things towards the end of the season. I think one of our biggest strengths are offensive ability. I think we've got really good players on the offensive side, and the things we've been working on are all the other pieces, defense and rebounding, toughness, and it's a day-to-day approach. Nobody likes to play defense, very few like to play defense, very few like to rebound, and we've got to teach that element. And that's really one of the things we've really talked about a lot as our details, being good teammates, being givers, not receivers, and really trying to make sure that we do a great job defensively. There's a lot to that, and there's a lot to rebounding the ball as well. Offensive stuff usually takes care of itself, people like to do that, but the details and all the other stuff are what we're really trying to focus on. Wells is impressed by his team's attitude and says they're right where they need to be right now, mentally. Well, I think we're very competitive. I think this group is filled with a group of winners. They enjoy winning, they listen to us to try to do the things we asked them to do, we're a lot smaller than teams in the past, so we have to do some unique type things to get where we want to be, but I do think this group is very focused on winning. With a full week off, the Bears have some time to rest and focus on the fundamentals. Well, we stepped back a little bit and tried to go back to the basics a little bit this week, doing a lot of film work and showing them some of the details that they're messing up on, or maybe just oversight and trying to really hammer those home this week, and hopefully that'll show in our play this weekend. We're just really excited about the team. We know we've got six games left, two of those are at home and four on the road, which is tough, but we're excited about this team and the potential they have. U-Pike plays at Cumberlands on Saturday before returning home to the Expo Center next Thursday to take on Campbellsville, followed by St. Catherine on Saturday. All three of those are men's and women's double headers, and you can hear them all live on the stations of East Kentucky Broadcasting. I'm Caleb Knoe for EKB's Countdown to Tip Off. Back to Andrew. Thanks so much. Of course, you can follow U-Pike basketball all season long on Z107-5, and the Kelly Wells Show every Tuesday night on EKB-TV with a complete update on U-Pike basketball. Still to come in our final segment, we'll have your Kentucky High School Basketball Associated Press poll for the week, also our Player of the Week nominations and this week's Player of the Week, and a look at key games throughout the area. It's all still to come on Countdown to Tip Off, presented by Pikeville Medical Center. Welcome back to Countdown to Tip Off, a high school basketball spotlight show presented by Pikeville Medical Center on EKB-TV. It's that time in the show when we take a look at this past week's outstanding performances from high school basketball throughout the region. And before we get to this week's nominees, last week's Hutch Chevrolet Player of the Week, we spotlight Braxton Tiggs of Pike County Central. He accounted for 25 points and 12 rebounds in a big district win over Belfrey last week. Braxton Tiggs of Pike Central last week's Hutch Chevrolet Player of the Week. Let's look at this week's Player Nominations for Player of the Week. From Betsy Lane, his name's been in the mix much of the year, Peyton Case of Betsy Lane. 26 points in a win over MacGuffin County and 21 in the win over South Floyd. Dustin Rogers of Betsy Lane, he's been featured previously this year. He had 20 points versus MacGuffin County and 17 against South Floyd. Kyle Gullit of Johnson Central, 25 points and six big blocks in a win over MacGuffin County. Teddy Smith of Pike Central, he had 20 points in the Hawks win over Lawrence County. And Wyatt Battle, the youngster from Pikeville, 26 points in a win over Allen Central. Battle also had another big game against Greenup County accounting for 18 points. Zach Huffman of Pikeville, battles teammate, 19 points, 14 boards, that's a double double in the Panthers win over Greenup County. Johnny Miller of Eastridge, 28 points in the Warriors win over South Floyd. We'll get Miller the nomination this week. And Michael Williams of Pierre Ast. The Knights got a big win over Rose Hill Christian and Williams accounted for 31 points in the Pierre Ast win. And finally, our Hutch Chevrolet player of the week, Laco Daniels of Betsy Lane. He had two double doubles this week. He had 12 points and 10 rebounds against MacGuffin County and 17 points and get this 18 rebounds in the Bobcats win over South Floyd. Laco Daniels of Betsy Lane, your Hutch Chevrolet player of the week. That's a look at the Hutch Chevrolet player of the week and the nominations from last week. And of course, we'll look forward to more outstanding performances in the week ahead. Some of the key games we'll be watching this weekend include Paintsville at Johnson Central Friday night. Jenkins will travel to Knott County Central. Belfrey visits Lawrence County in a six-digit district regular season showdown. It's Allen Central at Betsy Lane in a 58th district regular season battle. And our EKB TV and WDHR Classic Rock 103 and Z107-5 game of the week. It's Shelby Valley at East Ridge Friday night. In other action, coming up Saturday, we'll be keeping an eye on Sheldon Clark. We'll be at Belfrey and Prestonsburg goes to South Floyd. It's a feature game on ESPN Radio 95.9 and 104.5 FM. Those are games we'll be keeping an eye on this weekend as we prepare for next week's edition of Countdown to Tip-Off. Now it's time that we take a look at the latest Kentucky High School Basketball Associated Press poll for the week. He's Kentucky Broadcasting, a voting member of the Associated Press, and this week's rankings in Boy's High School Basketball. Starting at number 10, Louisville Doss. Coming in this week at number nine, Covington Catholic with an 18 and four record. At number eight, it's Hopkinsville at 17 and four. The sixth ranked team in the Kentucky AP Boy's Basketball poll, Taylor County with a 20 and four record. At number five, the All-A Boy State Basketball Champions, Newport Central Catholic, they received one first place vote, their 20 and three on the year. At number four in the latest Boy's AP poll, Henderson County, who come in with a 20 and three record. At number three, it's Louisville Trinity 17 and four. The number two ranked team in the KHSAA, AP Boy's Basketball poll, Not County Central, the Patriots. They are 21 and one on the year and currently ranked number two in the Commonwealth and the top ranked team for much of the season according to the Kentucky AP Boy's Basketball poll, Louisville Ballard with a 21 and two record. That's your latest Kentucky AP Boy's Basketball poll. We'll check in on that poll again next week on next week's edition of Countdown to Tip-Off. We invite you to join us for the high school basketball spotlight show. Next week we'll have more game highlights, player and coach interviews, of course the player of the week nominations, a U-Pike update and the AP Boy's Basketball poll, keeping you up to date with all things basketball in the mountains on Countdown to Tip-Off. It's been brought to you by Pikeville Medical Center on EKB TV. I'm Andrew Joyce. Thanks for tuning in.