Madisonville-North Hopkins earned its seventh-straight win on Thursday night, holding off a late Christian County run on the way to a 57-39 victory in Colonel Gym.
The Maroons improve to 12-4 ahead of a tantalizing matchup with Lyon County on Saturday, while the Colonels slip to 0-10 overall.
The Colonels were held scoreless over the first six and a half minutes before Derrell Bateman converted an and-1 for an 8-3 score. Ashton Gaines scored 5 first-quarter points for the Maroons, but Christian County only trailed 9-5 after Jordan Miles scored on a layup with :15 left in the first.
Miles scored and was fouled, and although he missed the free throw, the Colonels were within 3 at 13-10 with just over five minutes to play in the half. However, Madisonville finished the quarter on a 15-4 run to double-up the Colonels 28-14 at the half. Landon Cline chipped in 5 points and Gaines, Kale Gaither, and Brytton Walker each scored 4 to fuel the Maroon spurt.
The Madisonville run continued after the break and they were in front by 21 points after Zach Tow scored down low. The Maroons led by as many as 24 in the third quarter, but Jalil Farrow knocked down a pair of jumpers down the stretch for the Colonels and they trailed 44-25 with a quarter to play.
The Colonels looked to be buried, but they turned up the defensive intensity and climbed back into it with a 9-0 run to start the fourth. Farrow hit a couple of jumpers and Bubba Leavell came up with a steal and layup to cut the margin to 44-34 and force a Madisonville timeout with 5:27 to play.
The Maroons left the door open with some shaky free-throw shooting, finishing 19/33 for the game, but they did the job in the fourth quarter. Christian County was within 10 once more after Miles scored on a layup with four minutes left, but they wouldn’t get any closer.
Madisonville only had two field goals over the last eight minutes, but they went 9/13 at the charity stripe to build the final margin back to 18.
Gaither led all scorers with 15, 11 in the second half, and was joined in double figures by Gaines and Walker with 11 each for the Maroons.
Farrow scored 10, 9 in the second half, as the only Colonel to break double figures.
Madisonville 9 19 16 13 — 57
Christian County 5 9 11 14 — 39
Madisonville (12-4) — Gaither 15, Tow 9, Cline 8, Cheirs 1, McAdoo 1 Parish 1
Christian County (0-10) — Farrow 10, Miles 9, Bateman 8, Leavell 7, Vaughn 3
