KHSAA Boys Sweet Sixteen : Cooper Takes Down Meade County
It was a magical season for a team which wasn’t suppose to be there in the first place. The Meade County Boys Basketball team was a team high on talent that went 8-1 and then 1-19 and suddenly held the trophy for their first Region Championship since the glory years in the 5th Region.
The team, which left many question marks on sports writers pads and nearly as many on head coach Jason Triqure practice sessions. An injury to remarkable forward James Baker helped lead to a prolonged losing streak, but when the talented athlete was healthy and able to help cement the offensive attack and provide a defensive presence just in time for the 3rd Region Tournament, The Green Wave began peaking at the right time. Meade County won the Region crown for the first time since joining the 3rd Region and became the most interesting “Cinderella Story” of the season. From 1-19 to a Championship! Who would have seen it coming? 
Unfortunately, their first taste of State Tournament action since 1984 did not end well. The Cooper Jaguars made their stay a very short one as they took advantage of some shaky Green Wave ball handling to pull out a 54-39 win in the first round of the Sweet Sixteen last Thursday night. Meade County would turn the ball over 19 times and shot just 12-of-40 from the field in the loss. The Jaguars, who proved to everyone that they were for real by reaching the KHSAA State Championship game ( before being defeated by eventual champion Bowling Green) were quick to take advantage of the miscues. Although it was a slow first quarter (Cooper held a slim 7-6 lead), the Jaguars started to open it up in the second quarter building a 23-15 halftime lead, but Meade County fought back mainly behind sophomore guard Chezney Weick, who led his team with 15-points and set the tone. In fact, the Green Wave cut the deficit to just 27-25 with less than four minutes remaining in the third quarter, but Cooper started to build the lead back and finally took command in the end.
Still, for the Green Wave and their fans, who had been starved for a championship for so long it was most definitely a great time as green shirted folks filled up Rupp for the final game of the first round that night. Who knows what the future holds for this team? They will lose three valuable seniors in Case Medley, Dakota Clayton and Baker, but they will return a bright future in Weick, Noah Schwartz and Aiden Matthews. Those players got plenty of time on the court and should help springboard the next team which makes a Region run. After all, 32 years is a long time between trips to Rupp.
