Fort Campbell’s Aiden Blaszkowski poured in a season-high 29 points on Tuesday against visiting Livingston Central, but Max Downey outdueled him with 40 of his own to send the Cardinals to a 73-67 victory.
Blaszkowski scored seven in the 1st quarter and the Falcons led 14-12 after his free throws with :23 left. Downey answered with a layup for the Cardinals, before Blaszkowski buried a 3-pointer just ahead of the buzzer to put Fort Campbell back in front.
After scoring 10 in the 1st, Downey added 12 in the 2nd, with his steal and dunk pushing the Cardinals in front 23-22. The Falcons scored the next five, including Blaszkowski’s third 3-pointer of the half, but Livingston Central closed the half on a 12-0 run.
Downey knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Jason Rains added two layups to give the Cardinals a 37-29 edge at the break.
Livingston Central led throughout the 2nd half, but the Cardinals had to fend off multiple Falcon runs. A Downey layup stretched the margin to 11, but Fort Campbell had a 6-0 response for a 47-42 score with 1:42 left in the 3rd. Downey scored the final four points on a pair of free throws and a putback to give the Cardinals some breathing room with a quarter to play.
Mason Hargrove opened the 4th with an and-1 to restore the double-digit lead, but after a technical on the Cardinals, Blaszkowski hit two free throws and Dason Tate connected from behind the arc to trim the deficit to seven.
Fort Campbell got as close as five at 61-56 after a Tahlil Strayhorn basket, but Livingston Central delivered the knock-out punch with a 9-0 spurt capped by Rains’ layup with three minutes to go.
Livingston Central 14 23 14 22 — 73
Fort Campbell 17 12 13 25 — 67
Livingston Central (1-4) — Downey 40, Rains 10, Hargrove 8, Render 6, Wring 5, Crass 4
Fort Campbell (1-6) — Blaszkowski 29, Strayhorn 14, C. Tate 10, Waddy 7, Brown 4, D. Tate 3
One Response
You go lit’le dude! Make that name “Blaszkowski” stand out and be proud. Your great grandpap, my dad, was a stand out basketball and baseball player and would be very proud of you like I am. I love you little bro.