Male shoots its way past Breathitt County in boys KHSAA Sweet 16 opener

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Male came into its second straight boys KHSAA Sweet 16 having made the most 3-pointers in the state with 345.

The undersized Bulldogs even had T-shirts made saying 3's are greater than 2's. They have embraced the long range life and they lived it in the opening round of the KHSAA Sweet 16 Thursday at Rupp Arena.

The Bulldogs made 9-of-18 from deep in the first half and finished the game 15-of-33, a record for made threes in a Sweet 16 game. It added up to a 94-59 blowout victory over Breathitt County.

Freshman Cole Edelen led the outside attack making 5-of-7 from beyond the arc for 17 points. His big brother, Jack, a senior made 2-of-3 and scored 18. Fellow senior Meechie White did most of his damage on drives and scored 15. Jason Gasaway (12) and Max Gainey (10) were also in double figures for the Bulldogs.

The only thing in doubt for a while was whether or not Male would get its lead up to 35 points to start a running clock.

"We can win a game in the half-court. We can win a game in the full court," said Male Head Coach Tim Haworth. "Tonight, I really thought our advantage was to speed it up. I really felt like if we could get the game in the 70's, 80's or 90's, that it was going to be tough for them to beat us."

"Last year, we played everything through the post," said Jack Edelen. "This year we kinda spread teams out so I think it's hard when you have guys that can go inside and then everybody on our team can shoot threes. So I think we're a hard team to guard."

"Being around these two," said Meechie White pointing to the Edelen brothers. "We're always in the gym on the (shooting) gun, just getting shots up. And to come out here and shoot it, it's just like second nature. So when we're just shooting the ball, everything's a good shot."

Male made 13-of-17 shots in the second quarter to blow things open. They hit 56% for the game and forced 20 Bobcat turnovers.

The Bulldogs play in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Friday against Frederick Douglas, a 73-53 winner over Martin County.