Woodford County fends off Elizabethtown comeback, advances to Sweet 16 semis
For the first time ever, the Woodford County Yellow Jackets will play in the state tournament semifinals.
On Friday morning in the first quarterfinal game of the 2023 UK Healthcare Boys’ Sweet 16 Tournament at Rupp Arena, No. 16 Woodford County was able to fend off a late comeback attempt by the Elizabethtown Panthers, hitting plenty of free throws down the stretch to come away with a 59-48 victory. Despite shooting the ball worse than Elizabethtown and finishing with five fewer rebounds, the Yellow Jackets held a big enough lead throughout the game to keep the Panthers from completing the late comeback attempt.
Woodford County, which easily brought the largest and loudest group of fans to Rupp Arena, advances to play in Saturday’s first semifinal matchup, where they’ll take on either No. 1 Warren Central or Ashland Blazer with a shot at the Sweet 16 championship on the line.
The Yellow Jackets started this season 0-3 and at one point dropped five games in a row a few weeks later, but the team as a whole persevered. With Friday’s victory, Woodford County has now won nine games in a row and might be the hottest team left in the tournament.
“We’ve grown a lot in order to be here,” Woodford County head coach Jaron Brown said postgame. “We have a lot of sophomores and two seniors. So it’s been kinda hard, it was hard at the beginning of the year where you could tell we was young. But the schedule that we played, it helped us grow, and we’re continuing to grow right now.”
“So I’m gonna be completely honest. Starting the season off 0-3, a lot of people doubted us. We see it. We’ve seen it the whole season,” Senior Aden Nelson said. “So just coming together as a team and believing in each other, that’s been our biggest motivation. We didn’t need anything else but us.”
Woodford County forcefully set the tone early on with a quick 8-0 lead, four of those points coming from four-star sophomore Jasper Johnson. But Elizabethtown wasn’t going to fade away that easily. The Panthers responded with a 13-6 run to make it just a one-point deficit near the end of the opening quarter. Johnson was up to six points for Woodford County while three-star junior Ayden Evans had five points for E-Town. The Yellow Jackets tacked on four more points before the end of the period to take an 18-13 lead.
The second quarter began with some fire from both sides. A small skirmish between Eizabethtown’s Evans and Woodford County’s Layton Starks resulted in a technical foul on Starks, who pushed Evans to the ground. Soon after, a big three-pointer from Nelson put the Yellow Jackets in front 24-17, but the fast pace that had controlled the game up to his point would stall for both teams.
Elizabethtown took advantage, chipping away at the Woodford County lead to trail by five, 26-21, at the halftime break. Johnson had eight points for the Yellow Jackets while Evans added eight points and four rebounds for the Panthers. Elizabethtown was already up to 12 turnovers by the intermission compared to seven for Woodford County.
After Evans came out of the locker room with a quick score to make it just a three-point game, Woodford County went on a pivotal run. Eight straight points from the Yellow Jackets pushed its lead to double-digits for the first time all afternoon. The Panthers had an answer though, immediately firing back with a 7-0 run to bring the deficit back to just four points, 34-30, at the midway point of the third quarter.
But Nelson would counter with a massive and-one finish for Woodford County to extend the lead back out to seven once again. A pair of made free throws from Johnson continued to push the Yellow Jackets ahead. Entering the final quarter, Woodford County held a 40-33 edge. But Elizabethtown had thoughts of a comeback on the mind.
To start the fourth, the Panthers persistently trimmed away the Woodford County lead. With 4:30 left in regulation, Elizabethtown made it just a two-point game for the first time since the beginning of the second frame. The Panthers kept fighting over the next minute, but eventually, foul trouble spelled doom. Woodford County hit 13 free throws in the final four minutes to ice away the 11-point win, locking up a spot in Saturday’s Sweet 16 semifinals.
Johnson and Nelson both dropped in 16 points for Woodford County while Murray State commit John McCrear — the nephew of Kentucky football assistant coach Vince Marrow — recorded six blocks and limited Evans to just two points in the second half. Santonio Waide added 12 points, three rebounds, and three assists before fouling out.
Meanwhile, Elizabethtown was powered by 12 points and six rebounds from Evans along with 11 points from Jujuan Williams. The Panthers turned the ball over 20 times while Woodford County shot 25-29 from the charity stripe — two stats that proved to be the difference.
“When you hit free throws down the stretch the way they did, it usually turns out to be very positive for your team,” Elizabethtown head coach James Haire said after the loss. The Panthers’ season comes to a close with a final record of 24-10 and a 5th Region championship.
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