Cumberland Battles at Mustard Seed Hill Tournament

8 Jan 2019 by Justin Hensley

Cumberland visited Bourbon Christian Academy over the weekend to participate in the Battle for Mustard Seed Hill Annual Tournament. The Blazers meet three conference rivals during the tournament and came away 1-2 overall.

Friday morning started out with Cumberland taking on the Clays Mill Cougars. The Cougars came out strong with a 9 point lead by the end of the first quarter and the Blazers were never able to gain a lead. Clays Mill took the win over Cumberland 63-44. Shane Jung finished the game with 13. Tanner Pilarski tossed in 12 followed by Ben Pruette with 11. Kevin Romero led the Cougers with 26.

The loss to Clays Mill pushed Cumberland into the consolation bracket to meet Georgetown later Friday night. The Blazers recently lost to the Crusaders in a 54-52 loss on a last second shot by Georgetown. Determined to redeem the loss, Cumberland kept things close and trailed 26-19 at the half. After a defensive third quarter that saw both teams score only 6 points each, the Blazers outscored the Crusaders 13-6 in the last regulation period to tie the game. Cumberland went on the outscore Georgetown 9-2 in overtime for the victory. Cumberland is now 2-1 in overtime games for the season. Tanner Pilarski led the Blazers with 20 followed by Shane Jung with 14 and Ben Pruette with 11. Caleb Burnett led Georgetown with 15.

The Blazers woke up early Saturday to take on the Nelson County Eagles. Cumberland only scored two points in the opening quarter but outscored Nelson 14-3 in the second for a 16-13 halftime score. Tanner Pilarski, a leading scorer for the Blazers, encountered an ankle injury in the second quarter and was unable to return to the game. The Eagles were able to outlast the Blazers in the second half for a 35-29 win. Ben Pruette led Cumberland with 14 and Shane Jung added 12. Jacob Bradley led the Eagles with 12.

“I was glad to see us come back from the Clays Mill loss to beat Georgetown,” said Blazers head coach Justin Hensley after the weekend of games. “We really weren’t ready to play ball Friday morning and it hurt us in the Clays Mill game. Georgetown is a good matchup for us and there is some rivalry there too so that helps to get emotions high. We lost Tanner in the Nelson game and that really created a hole in our offense that we couldn’t overcome. Overall it was a good weekend of ball for the guys. We know we have some things to work on.” Coach Hensley said he’s hopeful that Pilarski will be back in 2-3 weeks.

Cumberland (6-13, 2-7) will travel across town to Williamsburg (KHSAA) in a non-conference game on Tuesday (1/8) for a 6:30pm tip.

Cumberland Homeschool Athletic Teams, Inc is a 501c3 nonprofit organization designed to provide opportunities for K-12 student athletes to participate in competitive athletics principally in the Cumberland Valley region of Southeast Kentucky.