Tigers 3-peat as Sagamore champs

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Lebanon’s Cord Barricklow goes up for a blocked shot in the second half against Southmont Friday night. Barricklow finished with 17 points, 17 rebounds and six blocks. Reporter photo by Will Willems
Western Boone's Riggs Baxter puts up a shot in the Stars' overtime win against North Montgomery. Photo courtesy of Lori Poteet

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January 26, 2013

Tigers 3-peat as Sagamore champs

By Will Willems Sports Editor The Lebanon Reporter Sat Jan 26, 2013, 12:30 AM EST

Lebanon — Boys’ size too much for Southmont

The Lebanon Tigers boys’ basketball team did something that hadn’t been done in 17 years Friday night.

By beating Southmont 83-40 and going undefeated in the Sagamore Conference for the third-straight year, the Tigers became the first team since Frankfort (’93-’96) to go three-straight years without losing a regular-season conference game.

“Going into the game, we knew we had a chance to win the conference outright and that Southmont was going to be a good opponent,” Lebanon head coach Albert Hendrix said. “We knew we had to guard the perimeter. And with Cord (Barricklow) on the inside altering shots, and he is such a force inside, we were able to gamble on the outside and force them into some tough shots. I thought our defense was really good tonight.”

The game was tied at seven early, but a 15-2 Lebanon run spanning the end of the first and start of the second quarters put Lebanon up 31-15 and they never looked back.

“Lebanon is a really, really good team and they played really well,” Southmont head coach Jon Sparks said. “They are tough at home. They have a little of everything you need to have a good basketball team. We didn’t always respond well. And when you play a good team the margin of error is less than we had today.”

The Tigers built the lead to 42-23 at the half and continued to pull away in the second half.

A big reason was that Southmont had no answer for the inside-tandem of Barricklow and Nick Starkey.

Barricklow finished with 17 points, 17 rebounds and six blocks, while Starkey added 18 points and seven rebounds.

“We get the consistency from Cord every night and we have come to expect it from him,” Hendrix said. “He does a lot of things that change games. I am really proud of him. And Nick Starkey tonight was great. We have been looking for that from Nick for a while and he has been coming and tonight he did a great job.”

For more of this story, read Saturday's Lebanon Reporter.

Girls’ pressure overwhelms Mounties

For the third-straight season, the Lebanon Lady Tigers are the undefeated champions of the Sagamore Conference.

The Class 3A No. 2 Tigers dominated from the opening tip and beat Southmont 83-45.

“For a lot of our kids they are used to it, but for me being my first time is outstanding,” Lebanon head coach Beth DeVinney said. “And we have some freshmen who have never done it before so for us newbies it is great. To come in to a team like this is great. We have a tremendous point guard and team that works their butts off. We had a tremendous week of practice and you could see that in the first half today.”

Lebanon led 15-0 just more than three minutes into the game, using their press to turn Southmont over and get easy lay-ups on the other end.

Southmont head coach Chloe Allen said Lebanon’s press was an adjustment for her girls.

“For us, handling the ball into the front court has been our main focus,” Allen said. “The girls did a great job getting it over half court; it just took them a while to realize there was another trap coming. But it would have been very easy for the girls to quit after the first quarter. One of our goals is to improve every game and they really worked on some things and improved on some things today. Lebanon is a great team, and this should motivate us to work hard in the off-season to become a great team.”

Lebanon led 28-11 after a quarter and 51-20 at the half.

The Tigers forced more Mountie turnovers (22), than points allowed (20).

“Our focus and intensity early was great,” DeVinney said. “We really worked hard on our positioning and angles. That was the little things that were lacking. We did a better job of that today and the top of our press was clicking.”

The game was never close in the second half.

Southmont played better in the second half, only losing 32-25.

For more of this story, read Saturday's Lebanon Reporter.

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Tigers 3-peat as Sagamore champs

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