SPORTSSPORTSSPORTSSaturday-Sunday, Feb. 25-26, 2012 | Sports Editor: Joe Wilson | 270-887-3260 | jwilson@kentuckynewera.com

B1

IN THIS SECTIONSCOREBOARD B2SPORTS BRIEFS B3INSIDE NASCAR B4PENNYRILE OUTDOORS B5SPOTLIGHT B7TV B8

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

MURRAY ST.AT TENNESSEE TECH 7:30 P.M.SEMOAT AUSTIN PEAY 7:30 P.M.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

MTSUAT WKU 5 P.M.VANDERBILTAT KENTUCKY 11 A.M.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

LSUAT OLE MISS 12:47 P.M.FLORIDAAT GEORGIA 3 P.M.

NHL

SAN JOSEAT NASHVILLE 7:30 P.M.ST. LOUISAT WINNIPEG 1 P.M.

PREPBoys’ Basketball

HOPKINSVILLE 75CHRISTIAN CO. 58LOGAN CO. 79RUSSELLVILLE 83

PREPGirls’ Basketball

HOPKINSVILLE 51UHA 30LIVINGSTON CENTRAL 58LYON CO. 43

TODAY’S GAMES TOP SCORES

DISTRICT 8 BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTS

No. 1 UK closing in on undefeated SEC seasonLEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) —

Freshman Anthony Davis andNo. 1 Kentucky might just be inperfect position as the regularseason winds down.

Davis is a leading candidate fornational player of the year, whilethe Wildcats (27-1, 13-0) are clos-ing in on the first undefeated runthrough the Southeastern Con-ference since accomplishing thefeat in 2003.

“We’re in a good position rightnow, but we still have to come outand work hard, play hard. Noth-ing can change at all,” Davis said.“We’re getting better every dayin practice, going hard. We’regoing to be good when it comestournament time.”

Make that a favorite.It’s made it easy for Davis to

stay locked in on the Wildcats in-stead of other things — likewhere he might be drafted if hedeclares for the NBA — or look-ing back at a blown opportunityfor an undefeated season: thebuzzer beating loss to Indiana onDec. 10.

Instead, he’s focused on Van-derbilt (20-8, 9-4) today.

“We’re playing excellent rightnow,” Davis said. “We’ve just gotto keep coming out and playingthe way we know how to play.”

The Wildcats will put their 50-game home winning streak onthe line on Saturday against theCommodores, who have won atevery SEC venue in the last fouryears except Rupp Arena.

For Kentucky to become justthe third team in the SEC with anundefeated record since 1956, the

Wildcats would need to beatGeorgia on Thursday night andwin at Florida on Sunday beforethe SEC tournament and theNCAA tournament that follows.

Davis believes the feelings theyhad after the loss to the Hoosierscontinues to help them 2 1/2months later

“I think everyone needs a loss,”he said. “I think it was kind ofgood for us, just to see how losingfeels, so guys won’t get bigheaded. The loss helped us getback in the groove.”

And helped them forge a defen-sive identity. The Wildcats rankfirst in the nation in field goalpercentage defense at 36.3 per-cent and lead the nation inblocked shots with 254, includinga nation’s best 133 from Davis.

Kentucky needed poise in arally from a 13-point halftimedeficit against Mississippi Stateon Tuesday. The Wildcats fin-ished the game on a 15-2 run in a73-64 victory.

“You have to defend, play smarton offense, take good shots and beaggressive on defense. We de-

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Kentucky forward Anthony Davis (23) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist celebrate against Van-derbilt during their game Feb. 11 in Nashville, Tenn. The two teams meet again today inLexington.

When: TodayWhere: Rupp Arena

Time: 11 a.m.On the air: TV: CBS, 11 a.m.; Radio:

WHOP-FM (98.7)/WKDZ-FM (106.5),9:30 a.m.

Vanderbilt at Kentucky

SEE UK, PAGE B2

Hoptown sweeps district titlesDefenselifts LadyTigerspast UHA

MajorspowersTigers byColonels

BY JOE WILSONNEW ERA SPORTS EDITOR

For the second straight season,the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers willenter the Region 2 girls’ basket-ball tournament as the District 8champions.

Hoptown held UniversityHeights Academy scoreless formore than 8:00 in the first halfand went on to post a 51-30 victoryover the Lady Blazers Fridaynight in Colonel Gym.

“We had a hard time putting itin the basket but a lot of it wastheir defense and a little bit of itwas our youth,” UHA coach Tay-lor Sparks said. “We’ve talkedabout it before and sometimesour youth shows up. Againstsome teams you can make up forthat, but not against Hop-kinsville.”

The Lady Tigers (28-4) heldUHA’s top scorers, DannikaPrater and Denayia Holmes to acombined 16 points.

“I did something they (LadyBlazers) weren’t expecting,” Hop-town coach Tonya Wells said. “Iwent to a triangle-and-two. I put atriangle on Prater and Holmes.After watching them play Chris-tian County I felt like they madethe team tick. I felt like if I couldfrustrate them and get them outof the game we would have a goodchance.”

UHA (22-6) opened the game

BY KEITH JENKINSNEW ERA ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Christian County basketballcoach Tyler Smithhart knew hehad to find a way to counter Hop-kinsville’s size and length in orderto finally earn a win over theTigers, who had swept the Colonelsduring the regular season.

But it wasn’t Hopkinsville’s sizethat gave Christian County thebiggest problem. It was JordanMajors.

The junior guard scored agame-high 35 points as the top-seeded Tigers defeated the de-fending state champion Colonels75-58 in the boys’ District 8 cham-pionship game Friday night atColonel Gym.

“He’s really good,” Smithhartsaid of Majors. “He can score, hecan finish. We wanted to makehim hit a couple. He came out andhit a couple. And then you have toget on him, and when you get onhim, he can put it on the bounceand draw contact like he does.

“He’s a Division I player. He hada great night and that’s what re-ally good teams have. They havethat one guy that can put you ontheir back. I think they struggleda little bit early finding a bucket,and he just said hop on.”

After a slow start by bothteams, Majors hit a 3-pointer with1:22 to go in the first quarter topush the Tigers ahead 19-13. Ma-

PHOTOS BY JOE WILSON AND KEITH JENKINS |KENTUCKY NEW ERA

Hopkinsville senior guard Christy Soldo (5, above) puts up a shot against UniversityHeights Academy in the first quarter of their District 8 tournament championshipFriday night in Colonel Gym. Meanwhile, UHA’s Denayia Holmes (10, left) is fouled asshe goes to the basket during the second quarter of the Lady Blazers’ game againstHoptown. After the boys’ District 8 title game, Hopkinsville’s Lawrence Smith (44, be-low), Trey Edwards (3) and Jordan Majors (20) accept the championship trophy fromChristian County athletic director Steve Lovelace.

SEE GIRLS, PAGE B3

Hoptown swimteams struggleat state meet

SPORTS B3Inside Nascar is back SPORTS B4

SEE BOYS, PAGE B3