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Scott County Upsets Huntington High

Lexington, Ky- Scott Co. (Ky) and Indiana-commit Bud Mackey (pictured) upset Huntington High (#1 in the country) in a game on Friday night.

Scott County upset Huntington High, 72-68, in front of a packed Memorial Coliseum on Friday night.  Scott County is the top ranked team in Kentucky, while Huntington High was #1 in the nation.

The Cardinals scored first and never relinquished the lead, although Huntington tied the game four times. 

The teams traded baskets to open the game, before Scott County went on a 12-2 run to take control.  Jordan Lee had six of those points for SC.  After Huntington tied the game at 24-apiece, Matt Walls took over and Scott County went on another run, 14-5, to close the half and take a 38-29 lead into the locker room.

OJ Mayo was held to only 4 points and Huntington committed 15 turnovers in the half.  Matt Walls, Bud Mackey, and Jordan Lee combined for 31 of Scott County’s 38 first half points.

Huntington started the second half on a 13-6 run and got to within 2 points of Scott County (44-42) on a dunk by Mayo.  Matt Walls hit a big 3 on the next possession and his team regained momentum.  The 3rd quarter ended with Scott County on top 52-46.

The teams traded baskets early in the final period, before OJ Mayo took over for Huntington.  With his team down by 7, Mayo nailed a 3-pointer and finished a dunk on his team’s next possession to get the Highlanders back in the game.  He came up with some big steals and hit numerous big shots down the stretch, but Scott County’s Matt Walls and Tyler Portwood would answer every time.  With 12 seconds left in the game, Matt Walls went to the line with Scott County up two and hit a pair of free throws that put the game away.

Player Evaluations:

Matt Walls 6’3 Sr. G Scott County
Walls is the leader of this Scott County team and was huge in this game.  He hit all the big shots, dove for loose balls, came up with big steals, and hit four clutch free-throws in the closing seconds to ice the game.  Walls scored 22 points and added 5 boards, 4 steals and 3 assists.  This top five senior in Kentucky is a classy athlete, huge competitor, and humble to boot. 

Bud Mackey 6’2 Jr. G Scott County (Indiana)
Mackey finished an alley-oop dunk over a Huntington player in the opening minute of the game to show that he came to play on this night.  He is an outstanding athlete and gets to the hole and finishes extremely well.  He still needs to improve his shot and passing skills before he gets to Indiana to be an impact Big 10 point guard, but he has all the natural talent.  Mackey finished with 20 points (6-16fg), and 5 rebounds while playing all 32 minutes of the game.  He gets a ton of the credit for this victory.

Tyler Portwood was huge in this game for the Cardinals.  He hit three trifectas that came on crucial possessions and finished with 11 points and 4 rebounds.  Scott Co.’s 6’6 junior forward Jordan Lee had his coming out party against Pat Patterson in this game.  He finished with 17 points (8-14fg), 8 rebounds and 3 blocks.

OJ Mayo 6’4 Sr. PG Huntington High (USC)
Mayo was held in check during the first half when he only scored 4 points.  In the second half he single-handedly kept Huntington in the game and hit a lot of clutch shots down the stretch.  He finished with 26 points on 12-30 shooting, and had numerous shots rim out that would normally be money.  He also had 6 steals.  The fact that he didn’t get to the line one time the entire game (and it wasn’t because he didn’t get fouled), and that he finished with only one assist despite setting his teammates up all night, ultimately led to his team’s defeat.  Mayo remains the #1 player in the class of 2007.

Jamaal Williams 5’11 Sr. G Huntington High
Williams was a bright spot in Huntington’s backcourt on this night.  While his fellow guard, Michael Taylor, was ice cold (0-10 from the field), Williams scored 18 points on 6-11 shooting.  He has ridiculous hops and can get to the hole and dunk.  Williams scores in transition nearly every time and often draws a foul and finishes the shot.  He is one of the best finishers his size in the country and his hang time makes you think Derrick Rose.  He was 0-3 from downtown on this night and missed all of his midrange jumpers as well.  At least a solid low level college player.

Patrick Patterson 6’8 Sr. PF Huntington High (UK, Duke, Florida, WVU, UVA, WFU)
When Scott Co. took a shot, the entire Huntington team would start the other way leaving Patterson to rebound by himself without at least a block out from his teammates.  Patterson finished with 15 boards while fighting at least three Scott Co. players for rebounds most of the night.  The offense was definitely not run through him and he only got a couple touches in the post.  His 12 points came on 6-8 shooting, mostly on tip-ins.  Patterson plans to cut his list to three schools by the end of February and make his college choice by early April.

Chris Early 6’7 Sr. F Huntington High (Oklahoma)
Early was the third best player in the game and for whatever reason he didn’t start and only played 16 minutes.  When he was in the game, he was very efficient.  Early scored 6 points on 2-4 shooting and grabbed 4 rebounds.  Can’t help but think that it couldn’t have hurt for him to have gotten some more PT.

Bruce Senior 6’6 Sr. C Huntington High
Senior finished with 6 points on 3-4 shooting and 8 rebounds (4 offensive) in 17 minutes of play.

Rumor Mill

We sat right in the middle of the Huntington High student section, and came away with a couple of interesting rumors:

*The consensus among the students that we talked to is that Patrick Patterson is going to play college ball at Kentucky.  I asked why they think so, and they said “That’s what Patrick’s girlfriend says”.  Keep in mind that it’s just a rumor and we know that his Duke visit went extremely well (he went to the Duke game against Boston College, played in Cameron Indoor, and had breakfast with the Duke staff, all in the last week).  Also, if it's a done deal for him and Kentucky, then why wait on committing?

*The word on the street is that OJ Mayo is going to be suspended (by HHS) for his next four games.  “We had to come to this game, because it’s the last time we’ll see OJ play for a while”, one Huntington student said.  “The school is suspending him for four games… they had to do something”.  Again, nobody is officially saying this.  Not the school or OJ at this time... so take it for what it’s worth.