It’s difficult to imagine that there is another high school basketball coaching rivalry in this state that rivals that of Corbin’s Tony Pietrowski versus South Laurel’s Jeff Davis. As I stood and watched the thrilling conclusion of yet another district championship showdown between the Redhounds and the Cardinals last Friday night, I found myself thinking, “How many times have I seen these two guys coach against each other in what ended up being an absolute classic?”
With that in mind, I went back in the record books and reviewed all of the encounters between Pietrowski and Davis, and what I found was interesting, to say the least. Let’s have a look…
Pietrowski had already been at the helm of the CHS boys basketball program for several years when Davis was named as the successor to Steve Wright at South Laurel. That was in 2011, meaning that next season will be 15 years that Pietrowski and Davis have been coaching against each other in the 50th District. Kind of hard to believe, I know, but it’s true.
Between the 2011-12 season and now, the Cardinals lead the overall series with 23 wins. The Hounds are not far behind, however, with 18 victories.
I was surprised to see that South won twelve straight games against Corbin, sweeping the Redhounds in the 18-19, 19-20, 20-21 and 21-22 seasons. I was not covering local athletics for two of those seasons, which explains why I didn’t remember this being the case, but things began to turn around in 22-23, with Corbin coming out on top in five of the next seven encounters.
In the all-time series there have been four overtime decisions, one double overtime, and 15 games have been decided by five points or less. The Cards and the Hounds have battled each other in a total of twelve district championship games, with seven being won by South and five by Corbin. So far, the only meeting between the two in a regional championship game was when the Redhounds won, 66-62, in overtime back in 2018.
So, will we get to see Pietrowski and Davis coach against each other again one last time THIS season? Maybe, but both teams will have their hands full in the opening round of this week’s 13th Region championship tournament at the Corbin Arena.
Pietrowski and company will face the North Laurel Jaguars in round one Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. The Hounds beat the Jags twice last month, traveling to London and coming away with a 63-58 victory on Feb. 6 and then besting them at home on Feb. 14, 66-61.
South, meanwhile, will face the Bell County Bobcats at 6 p.m. on Thursday. The Cards picked up a win over the Cats in the regular season, winning, 56-49, in London on Feb. 20.
Complete brackets for both the boys’ and girls’ regional championship tournaments are available in this week’s edition. This promises to be an incredible week of roundball action, so if you haven’t already made plans to attend, I suggest you do so!
