A special kind of excitement will sweep the basketball-crazed Bluegrass State March 13-14 when more than 600 Special Olympics bring "March Magic" to Louisville with the Special Olympics Kentucky State Basketball Tournament and Team Skills Competition.
This year, 40 teams will compete in the State Tournament, having qualified for the competition from a trio of Regional Tournaments held in February. Those teams represent nearly every area in the state, with groups coming from Northern Kentucky, Central Kentucky, Owensboro, Bowling Green, Western Kentucky, Montgomery County and Powell County further East, and of course Louisville. In all nearly 400 athletes will compete in the the State Basketball Tournament portion of the weekend's activities.
The State Basketball Tournament will be held at Knights Hall at Bellarmine University, Atherton High School, and Seneca High School. Games will begin at 9 am on Saturday, March 13 at Atherton and Seneca High Schools. The final games that day will start at 3:15 pm at both locations. Action starts again on Sunday, March 14 at 9 am at Bellarmine and again at Atherton. The latest games on Sunday should begin at approximately 12:45. Most of the State Championship games will be held on Sunday.
In addition to the teams in the State Basketball Tournament, teams that didn't get through the regionals will still be in Louisville to take part in the Team Skills Competition. The Skills Competition will be held on Saturday, March 13, at Bellarmine University. Athletes will compete in dribbling, shooting and passing drills, with the teams accumulation the most points taking home gold medals.
Basketball is, not surprisingly, one of the most popular sports offerings on the Special Olympics Kentucky calendar,
with nearly 900 athletes competing on 89 teams statewide. Teams compete throughout the state in leagues and invitational and regional tournaments, all leading up to the State Basketball Tournament and Team Skills Competition.
After a one-year hiatus because of a winter storm in 2008, the Special Olympics State Basketball Tournament roared back into Louisville with more than 60 teams and 600 athletes taking part in competition during the weekend of March 13-15.
In the past, the State Tournament has always seemed to produce outstanding effort from the athletes involved and 2009 was no different. Maybe the best performance of the two days of game action came from Mark Tassin of the East End Falcons in the 4A Division. In the semifinal game on Saturday, Tassin scored 13 of his 20 points — including a pair of three pointers and a late free throw — in the second half to pull East End from a halftime tie to 47-46 victory over the Bowling Green Rebels. In the State Championship Game on Sunday, Tassin picked up right where he left off the day before. His 15 second half points and 23 for the game helped the Falcons stay close but just weren't enough as Daniel Drury scored 23 of his own for the Northern Kentucky Rimrockers, who held on for a hard-fought 49-45 win.
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Timmy Penn of the Grant County Jaguars goes in for two of his 15 points to lead his team to its first State Championship. |
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The 4A Final was far from the only close Championship Game in the tournament, however. In fact, both Women's Division Championship Games came down to the wire. In the women's 1A Division, the Bowling Green Commanders scored late to defeat the Pitt Academy (Louisville) Lady Bears 14-12. In the Women's B Division, the Kenton County Lady Cats looked like they were going to roll taking a solid lead into halftime, but the Owensboro Lady Lasers came back strong to take the game 12-10. In another very hard-fought game, in the 1A Blue Division Championship, the Lexington Wildcats scored all of their points in the third quarter to take a 9-7 lead, but couldn't hold on as Chris MacCool and Tavon Reed both scored for the Pitt Academy Bruins to claim the 11-9 victory.
In other Tournament action, the Grant County Jaguars knocked off the Pitt Academy Cubs 30-14 in the B Red Division Championship Game to win the first State Basketball Championship in that young program's history. In the B Blue Division, the Stewart Home School Raptors tore through the bracket, winning early games 38-28 and 26-14 before outlasting the Southeast (Louisville) Pacers 17-11behind 8 points from Norman Paulson. The East End Rockets claimed one State Championship for that program, defeating the Fayette Shamrocks 20-15 with the help of 12 points by Steven Hornback. In the 1A Red Division the Louisville Cheetahs got out to a fast start and never looked back, cruising to a 28-23 win.
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Mike Hilton drives for two of his team-high nine points to help the Pitt Academy Grizzlies snare the 3A State Championship. |
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The 2A and 3A Divisions both saw dominating performances. Nate Roberts scored 26 for the Capital Cougars as they romped past the Ohio County Cougars 42-33 in the 2A Championship Game. In the 3A game, all nine Pitt Academy Grizzlies scored although none in double figures, as the Grizzlies rolled 41-22 over the Bowling Green Sheriffs.
The competition was just as fierce among teams that did not make the State Basketball Tournament, but who still opted to enjoy the weekend by competing in the Team Skills Challenge. This year 23 teams competed in the Skills Challenge. Meade County dominated the competition, with both of its teams winning Gold Medals in their divisions. Stewart Home School also won two Gold Medals — one in the B Division and one in 1A. The Louisville Jazz won the final B Division Gold and the Louisville Flyers claimed Gold in their Division of the 1A competition.
Our thanks to all of the teams who competed throughout the weekend. We also want to thank all of the volunteers, especially the referees of the Kentuckiana Basketball Officials Association who donate their time to referee the State Tournament every year. We would also like to thank our sponsors — Kroger, The Law Enforcement Torch Run, Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom and Texas Roadhouse, as well as the American Legion and American Legion Auxiliary, Northwestern Mutual and the KBOA for their tremendous support of the event.
