It may not ease the pain from last season’s loss in the semifinals of the 2nd Region tournament. but the Hopkinsville Tigers can claim a season sweep over the Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons this year after a 69-63 road win on Tuesday night.
With a loss in Hopkinsville earlier this year still fresh in their minds and the Maroons recognizing their seniors before the game, Hopkinsville faced an uphill battle from the first whistle. However, the Tigers seemed unfazed, using full-court pressure to run out to an early lead and silence the crowd.
A 3-point play by Isaiah Manning gave the Tigers an early 8-4 advantage, and they used some strong play in the paint to take control. KeiMarion Smith drilled a 3-pointer to jumpstart an 11-2 Tiger run, and Olajuwon White closed the quarter with a pair of free throws for a 20-9 Hoptown lead.
Hoptown’s Antonio Williams scored the first four points of the 2nd quarter to stretch the lead to 15. The Maroons trimmed it to 11 on a pair of free throws by Ashton Gaines, but the Tigers doubled them up at 32-16 when KC Cabiness scored off an assist from Bubba Leavell.
Williams capped his nine-point quarter with a 3-pointer from the corner with :56 left in the half to give the Tigers a 37-22 lead at the halftime break.
The Maroons responded like an accomplished and experienced group, led by Kale Gaither with a second half to remember. Gaither terrorized the Tigers with 39 points in last season’s region meeting, and after being held to seven in the 1st half, he put the team on his shoulders in the 2nd.
With Madisonville trailing by 12, Gaither scored eight-straight to cut the difference to four at 39-35 with 4:09 left in the 3rd quarter. A Williams 3 pushed the Tigers back in front by 10, and they led by 11 with a quarter to play after Gaines missed the front end of a one-and-one with seconds left.
Gaither and Williams dueled down the stretch, with the Maroon senior posting 14 and the Tiger sophomore playing beyond his years with 10. Madisonville got as close as six at 53-47, but Hopkinsville was back in front 66-54 when Cabiness scored down low with 1:40 to play.
Cabiness’ dunk with :38 left seemed to seal the win at 69-58. However, a Gaither 3-pointer and a technical foul on the Tigers put Madisonville back in business. Gaither hit both from the line to cut it to six again, and despite Hoptown missing the front of a one-and-one, the Maroons ran out of time.
Hopkinsville earns its eleventh-straight victory to improve to 15-4 ahead of a visit from Christian County on Friday. The Tigers have already clinched the top seed in the 8th-District tournament while the Colonels are chasing the 2nd seed.
Madisonville drops its third in five outings to stand at 15-8 overall. On Friday, the Maroons hit the road for a 7th-District matchup with Caldwell County. They took the first meeting with the Tigers 58-50 on Monday.
Gaither finished with a game-high 33, and Gaines had 13 for the Maroons.
Williams’ 26 paced the Tigers, and Cabiness posted 15.
Hopkinsville 20 17 13 19 — 69
Madisonville 9 13 17 24 — 63
Hopkinsville [15-4] — Williams 26, Cabiness 15, Manning 8, Smith 8, White 7, Leavell 3, Mercer 2
Madisonville [15-8] — Gaither 33, Gaines 13, Tow 7, Frazier 6, Cheirs 4
