There are no more cream puffs on the schedule.
If Warren County wants to keep playing basketball past this Saturday night, the Pioneers are going to have to beat some quality teams, beginning with Bradley Central in the first round of the region tournament.
WCHS enters regionals playing perhaps its best basketball of the season. In the district tournament, the Pioneers handled Stone Memorial, pestered an undefeated White County squad, then captured third place with an impressive win over Cumberland County.
Now comes Bradley Central (22-6), a team the Pioneer boys have never played in basketball. The Bears started the year 1-3, but rode a 14-game winning streak into their district tournament championship game where they were upset by Walker Valley, 71-62.
“It seems like every game we’ve had this year has been close,” Bradley Central coach Chuck Clark told me Thursday morning. “We’ve only had four games where we’ve scored a lot more than the other team. The rest of our games, win or lose, have been single digits.”
Bradley Central is led by its senior backcourt combination of Bradley McCurdy and point guard Tyrell Pitner. McCurdy was injured the first four games of the year when the Bears limped to a 1-3 start and they’re a much better team with him on the floor.
Perhaps the Bears’ most explosive player is junior Cole Copeland, who scored 38 points and grabbed 25 rebounds when Bradley Central earned an 88-86 four OT victory over Cleveland earlier this month. Copeland hit two shots at the buzzer to extend the game two additional overtimes, then hit the game-winner.
If there’s one area where Warren County (16-19) has the advantage it’s with size. Coach Clark said, “I saw your guys at a Christmas tournament and you have a pretty big group of young men. We’ll have to play well to offset your size advantage.”
Looking at common opponents, Warren County was 2-1 against Stone Memorial. Bradley Central was 3-0.
Warren County finished with a 1-2 record against Cumberland County with the Pioneers’ two losses coming by a combined five points. Bradley Central was 2-0 against Cumberland County, beating the Jets 72-62 in Cleveland and 56-49 in Crossville.
The Pioneers split with Cookville. Bradley Central won its only game against Cookeville in a Christmas tournament, 63-51.
All things considered, this is a game the Pioneers can certainly win. Should that happen, Warren County could be facing its fourth matchup against White County, which enters the regional tournament unbeaten at 28-0.
Like I said, there are no more cream puffs.