Sometimes it’s hard enough to get the ball to go into the basket. It’s even harder when your opponent is returning your shots back in your direction. Hopkinsville used rim protection and pressure defense to pull away from Christian County in the second half Monday night as the Tigers rolled to an 88-57 win at Tiger Gym.
Hopkinsville, led by Reece Jesse with seven blocked shots, ended up rejecting or deflecting a total of thirteen Colonel attempts on the night. In addition to the blocks, the Tigers’ full-court pressure defense led to 23 Christian County turnovers, with several of those leading to easy baskets.
The game began at a frenetic pace, with both teams pushing the ball up the court on offense, and turning up the heat on defense. Reece Jesse and Arthur McKnight help get the Tigers up and running, while it was Derrell Bateman and Trez Vaughn sparking the early offense for the Colonels.
Hopkinsville would score the final five points of the opening quarter to give themselves a little breathing room at 24-18.
The second quarter saw more of the pressure defense from each team, although the tempo would slow some from the heated pace of the first eight minutes of the game. The Tigers would extend the lead out just a bit, to 38-30 heading into the break.
Both teams had some issues with ball security in the first two quarters, Hopkinsville would finish the half with 12 miscues, while the Colonels had 11 of their own. Christian County was able to hang in the game in the first half with another strong rebounding performance, led by Derrell Batement. Christian County would hold a 20-18 edge on the glass at the break.
The Tigers would seize the game early in the third quarter of play. Leading 40-34, Hopkinsville scored 12 straight to take a 52-34 lead, and the Colonels were never able to recover from the blitz. Also, whereas the Tigers had ball security issues against the Christian County pressure defense in the first half, that would not be the case over the final two quarters. The Tigers began to find cracks in the Christian County pressure, move the ball better, and attacked the basket. After the game, Coach Larry Miller would say that his team was more team-oriented in how they played after halftime.
Hopkinsville would deliver the knockout blow to finish out the third quarter, scoring the final eight points to run the lead out to 64-40. From there the Tigers would cruise on out to the final 31 point margin.
Hopkinsville would get a very balanced, team effort on offense, with four players scoring in double figures and three others scoring nine points each. Arthur McKnight led the way with 15 points. Daisjuan Mercer added 14, while Reece Jesse and K.C. Cabiness had 12 points each.
Trez Vaughn finished with 14 points for the Colonels. Derrell Bateman had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Second-half turnovers were a big part of how the game finished. After 12 first-half turnovers, Hopkinsville had only three in the second half. Christian County had 12 in the second half, giving them 23 for the game.
Hoptown has now won three times in four games since returning from a COVID-19 shutdown. The Tigers are at 5-3 and 1-0 in the district.
Christian County falls to 0-8 and 0-3.
CCHS — 18 12 10 17 – 57
HHS — 24 14 26 24 – 88
Christian County (0-8) – T. Vaughn 14, Bateman 12, Johnson 8, Miles 6, Leavell 5, K.J. Vaughn 4, Farrow 4, Riley 2, Forte 2
Hopkinsville (5-3) – McKnight 15, Mercer 13, Jesse 12, Cabiness 12, Burks 9, Smith 9, Watts 9, Manning 4, Williams 3, Dowlen 2
