The Barren County boys’ basketball team is busting brackets again.

The Trojans pulled off a first round Region 4 Tournament shocker for a second straight season, stunning District 16 champion Clinton County 77-49 on Tuesday at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Barren County (19-13) hit a sizzling 60% from the field while stifling the Bulldogs in a dominant wire-to-wire performance reminiscent of last season’s first-round stunner against Warren Central.

Trojans head coach Warren Cunningham said it was a strong performance by his team, bouncing back from an emotional double-overtime loss to Glasgow in the District 15 championship game.

“I’m just super proud of our guys and the way that we prepared,” Cunningham said. “Friday night’s game, those games are tough to overcome, but credit to our guys. I thought we got back to work, especially (Monday). It was important to get some rest, but I thought our guys had a really good day of preparation and they came in here tonight and felt like we were confident that we could do it. I thought it was just a really good, complete team performance by our guys.”

Clinton County beat Barren County 59-49 on Feb. 13, but Tuesday’s rematch was all Barren County.

The Trojans opened with a 9-0 run to put Clinton County (25-5) on its heels. The Bulldogs started to chip away, with Jaxson Mason’s baseline jumper trimming the deficit to 15-11 early in the second quarter.

Barren County regained the momentum with another 9-0 run. Clinton County got the deficit down to nine again before the Trojans closed the half with the final five points – including a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Kade Hardy that made the score 29-15.

The momentum carried over to the second half as the Trojans opened with an 11-2 run that pushed the margin to 40-17. Clinton County was unable to get closer than 19 points the rest of the way.

“That is what we talked about at halftime, win the first three minutes,” Cunningham said. “We’ve been in that situation several times this year and we haven’t always done that. That was the message at half, win the first three minutes and not let them feel like they had a chance. I thought our guys did that.”

Four Barren County players finished in double figures. Weston Shelton led the way with 20 points – shooting 8-for-11 from the field – while Hardy added 16 points and a team-high six rebounds.

“I just trusted my guys to make plays,” Hardy said. “If I get them the ball I have a lot of confidence that they will score, make an extra pass to someone else that is open. It just comes from practicing and playing every day, going all summer and fall. You build confidence with someone and you know they are going to be there.”

Gavin Nunn finished with 13 points and nine rebounds for Barren County, while Cameron Pippen had 12 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.

Cade Button led Clinton County with 17 points off the bench. Mason had 15 points and Will Beaty added 10 points.

Barren County will face Warren Central in the semifinal at 6:30 p.m. on Monday at E.A. Diddle Arena. The Trojans will be looking to upset the Dragons in the postseason for a second straight season. Warren Central beat Barren County 87-55 earlier this season.

“Obviously we have a different team than we had last year,” Cunningham said. “We’re not going to sneak up on them. They always are, but they will be well-prepared for us. I just told our guys that you know you can do it. We’ve done it so you know you can do it, but now the challenge is doing it.

“They’ve got an outstanding team. They’ve got a lot of length and athleticism that cause everybody some problems. When they shoot it well from the perimeter like they did against us earlier in the season they are really special.”

BCHS 13 16 18 30 – 77

CCHS 5 10 9 25 – 49

BC – Shelton 20, Hardy 16, Nunn 13, Pippen 12, Byrd 8, Griggs 6, Fryar 2.

CC – Button 17, Mason 15, Beaty 10, Harmon 3, McCutchen 2, Poore 2.