Colonels hold off Paul Laurence Dunbar 57-53 to win season opener
New faces, new coach highlights this year’s 2024-2025 Bourbon County Colonels
JARRETT VANMETER l jarrettvanmeter@gmail.com
PARIS, KY – Despite graduating only one senior from last season’s 2023-2024 team, the 2024-2025 version of Bourbon County boys’ basketball has an almost entirely new look.
EARLYWINE DID WORK ON THE BOARDS – Colonel junior Noah Earlywine had a tough shooting night but he did contribute a team-high 6 rebounds to go along with his 3 points.
There’s a new coach, we can start there. Allen Martin arrived in Paris after spending the past three seasons as the head coach at Powell County. When he took the job, it looked like the Colonels would return nearly the entire roster from last season’s 13-16 campaign that advanced to the regional tournament. Then the transfers started: leading scorer Kade Hilander to Henry Clay; big man Amari Bartelson to GRC; starter Bradley Robinson to Fleming County; promising sophomore Jake Scott to Fredrick Douglass. All total, six players left.
“The guys who stayed here, I told them at the beginning of the year that I am going to coach who wants to be here, and that’s what we’re doing” Martin said.
There are new names on the roster and plenty of returners who are now filling much bigger roles than a season ago. Still, Allen saw potential. This year’s group is long, athletic, and eager to prove itself.
“I think our team chemistry and our unity has probably grown a little bit,” said Martin. “I think there might have been some division and things like that, maybe not enough minutes to go around, not enough shots, whatever it was. We whittled down, we trimmed the fat off, and I think we are a very unselfish team right now.”
Monday night was the first test for the repurposed group, as Bourbon hosted Paul Laurence Dunbar for both teams’ season opener. Bourbon set the tone with an aggressive full-court man-to-man that resulted in senior Mariqus Ferguson, the football star, scoring the game’s first four points. The Colonels controlled the first quarter, taking a 17-10 lead into the second frame before the visiting Bulldogs, who are coached by George Baker, began to adapt to the pressure and chip away at the lead. The score was knotted at 26-26 by halftime.
“There is going to come a time when people will match our athleticism and we will have to execute in the half court, and we did a terrible job of that in the first half,” said Martin.
Characteristic of a season opener, the first half was fast and somewhat chaotic. By the third quarter, though, both teams had settled in. Ferguson scored nine of his game-high 15 points in the third and senior Roderick Hill scored the final four points of the quarter to give Bourbon a slight 39-37 lead going into the final stanza.
BYRD DELIVERS IN THE CLUTCH – Senior Daymarion Byrd came up big for the Colonels down the stretch when he hit two big free throws that gave his team a two point lead. Byrd finished with 14 points.
Neither team could pull away for most of the fourth quarter. With time ticking down in the game and the score tied at 53-53, the Colonels opted to hold for the last shot, letting nearly 45 seconds tick off before starting into their set. Not long after finally initiating the offense, guard Daymarion Byrd was fouled while driving to the basket with 13 seconds remaining on the clock. The senior went to the free-throw line and made both shots to give Bourbon a 55-53 lead. A Dunbar turnover, and two more made free-throws by Ferguson, sealed the 57-53 victory. Martin said he was most pleased with his team’s fight in the second half.
NASH PROVIDED A HUGE LIFT – Coach Allen Martin said that sophomore Nash Wilson came off the bench to provide some physical play that gave his team a little bit of a burst. Wilson finished the game with 7 points and 5 rebounds.
“The criticism on a lot of these guys is that they’re soft, they don’t want to play physical, that they don’t want to get hit in the mouth, but I felt like in the second half, that was what gave us the edge,” said Martin. “We rebounded hard and we hit the post and we dominated the paint.”
The Colonels were led in scoring by Ferguson and Byrd with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Hill notched nine points for Bourbon. Sophomore Mark Perraut and junior Nash Wilson, both reserves, scored seven points apiece. Junior Noah Earlywine closed out their scoring with 3 points, while pulling down a team-high 6 rebounds.
“Mark Perraut off the bench gave us a little bit of offensive burst and Nash coming off and playing physical gave us a little bit of a burst,” said Martin. “I think some of our guards kind of struggled tonight…but our forwards and our bigs came to play.”
Bourbon (1-0) returns to action on Thursday, traveling to Bath County for the team’s first road game.
