Just over twelve hours after leaving the floor after a 77-62 loss to Calloway County Friday night at the Paducah Tilghman Christmas Tournament, the UHA boys’ basketball team righted the ship with an 85-64 victory over Cairo, IL on Saturday morning. The Blazers improve to 3-5 overall and will face the host Blue Tornado in Saturday’s nightcap.
Trailing 8-4 early on, UHA’s Will Bryan nailed a 3-pointer to jumpstart a 15-0 run to put the Blazers in control. Crump got his day started with 9 first-quarter points, with the last coming on a 3-pointer with 1:12 left to give the Blazers a 22-12 advantage after one.
Ayden Davis drilled two 3-pointers to start the second, with DJ Quarles adding 9 points to help the Blazers expand the lead to 48-22 at the halftime break.
Both teams slowed in the third, with Daurice Morse putting up 8 points to help the Pilots outscore the Blazers 16-13, but UHA was on cruise control and led by 23 heading to the fourth.
Morse stayed hot for the Pilots, tossing in 11 points in the fourth to go with 9 from Dequarius Williams, but Crump closed the show with 12 more to extinguish any hope of a Cairo comeback.
Quarles and Bryan joined Crump in double figures with 14 and 13, respectively, followed by Davis with 11. Amani McGee finished with 9.
Cairo’s Morse led all scorers with 30, followed by Williams with 14.
