With their top five scorers back, including a pair of fifth-year seniors, the Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons had lots of familiar faces on the floor on Friday night for a rematch of last season’s 2nd Region title game with University Heights Academy.
However, the Blazers looked nothing like last season’s champions, with the departure of seven seniors, including the top four scorers from a year ago.
While the Blazers will undoubtedly develop as they gain experience throughout the season, the veteran Maroons were too much on Thursday, building an 18-point lead in the 3rd quarter and holding off UHA down the stretch for a 72-61 victory.
Ashton Gaines posted eight points in the 1st and put the Maroons up 13-6 after a putback and an and-1 midway through the quarter. Danye Frazier scored on a layup to stretch the margin to 10 and force a Blazer timeout with just over a minute left in the 1st.
Madisonville led by as many as nine in the 2nd quarter, but UHA was within four after Lemar Northington scored on a putback with two minutes to play in the half. Kale Gaither had seven in the frame and scored on drives on either side of a three-point play by Zach Tow to restore the Maroons’ nine-point edge at the break.
Gaither caught fire with 10 points in the 3rd and Madisonville built the lead to as many as 18 on two occasions, the last coming on an and-1 by Gaither. UHA’s Javion Brown got free in the corner and knocked down a three-pointer at the buzzer for a 56-41 score with a quarter to play.
The Blazers slowly clawed their way back into it in the 4th behind six points for Gavin Grubbs, trimming the margin to eight at 67-59 after a 3-pointer by Javion Brown with 1:45 to go. The Maroons answered with a bucket in the paint by Gaines and Gaither hit three of four free throws down the stretch to pull out the win.
Madisonville 18 16 22 16 — 72
UHA 10 15 16 20 — 61
Madisonville (2-0) –– Gaither 21, Gaines 19, Tow 12, Cline 9, Frazier 6, Cheirs 2, N. Peyton 2
UHA (1-1) — Grubbs 17, J. Brown 13, Northington 13, Thomas 6, Walton 6, C. Brown 4, Quarles 2
