There were a couple of firsts last week on the final day of the First Southern National Bank/Roy’s BBQ Classic basketball tournament.

For the first time in the tournament’s four-year history, the Russellville Panthers advanced to the finals – but they didn’t stop there.

RHS won the whole thing, thanks to a comeback victory over Mercer County in the championship game.

The 60-59 victory give the Panthers four in a row after they dropped three straight in an out-of-town holiday tournament.

Russellville will be back in action tonight at Warren Central.

The Logan County boys also had picked up their first win of the season, beating Butler County 56-48 in the First Southern National Bank/Roy’s BBQ Classic.

“I was really happy for the boys and the program,” LCHS coach Harold Tackett said. “We will continue to work hard and get better every day.”

Freshman Twin Lancaster scored eight of his team-high 17 points in the first quarter as the Cougars raced out to an 18-11 lead.

Derrod Blakey had 11 points for the Cougars and Troy Graham added eight points.

Travis Cannon led Butler County with 18 points.

Logan County then lost 71-68 on Saturday in a game at Monroe County.

In that game, the Falcons shot 32 free throws while Logan County had just six attempts.

The Logan County and Russellville girls’ teams also had some really good success in the tournament.

The Lady Cougars won their final game 56-53 over Metcalfe County to go 3-0 in the First Southern National Bank/Roy’s BBQ Classic.

The Lady Panthers also went 3-0 in the tournament, beating Metcalfe County 55-24 in their final game.

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There’s one thing I completely forgot to mention in last week’s sports year-in-review column.

As I was recapping all our local athletic teams best accomplishments in 2008, I neglected to write about the Logan County cross country team and its trip to the state championship meet for the first time in school history.

For years, the Logan County cross country teams toiled in Class 3A, but they were moved to 2A in 2008 and it paid off.

The LCHS boys’ cross country team had a very respectable finish in it’s first-ever KHSAA state championship meet.

The Cougars finished 16th out of 30 teams in the Class 2A championship Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Individually, Logan County was led by senior Scott Kenney.

Kenney, who finished 97th in the Class 3A meet last year, came in 19th by completing the 5K race in 17:14.

On the girls’ side, one runner from Logan County competed in the state championships.

Senior Crystin Faenza finished 74th out of 200 runners. She finished the race with a time of 22:05.

— OJ Stapleton is the editor of the News-Democrat & Leader. Contact him at edit_ndl@bellsouth.net or 726-8394.