All the way back on December 17, Christian County prevailed in the first matchup of the season with University Heights Academy, but the Blazers evened the score on Wednesday night with a 69-52 victory to spoil the Colonels’ Senior Night and set up an 8th-District tournament meeting for all the marbles.
The Blazers and Colonels will meet in one semifinal next week with the season series and a spot in the district championship game at stake.
UHA led wire to wire in its regular-season finale on Wednesday to snap a three-game skid and improve to 9-14 overall.
The Colonels slip to 8-21 overall and will look to build some momentum for the postseason when they travel to Apollo on Thursday.
Quinton Quarles scored six points and Javion Brown and Gavin Grubbs combined for eight to give the Blazers the early advantage. After the Colonels’ Prince Northington scored on a drive to trim the margin to four, Quarles answered with a drive of his own to give the Blazers a 17-11 edge.
Grubbs opened and closed the 2nd quarter with pull-up jumpers on the way to seven more points. KJ Vaughn posted five points for the Colonels, but they trailed 33-23 at the break.
A push to start the 2nd half had Christian County within four points on two occasions, but the Blazers weathered the storm and built the margin back to double digits. Lemar Northington capped his six point quarter with a pair of layups for a 52-36 Blazer lead.
KJ Vaughn did his best to get the Colonels back in the game with three 3-pointers and fourteen points over the final eight minutes, but it wasn’t enough. Quarles scored six and Trevonne Wallace added four and they Blazers led by double digits the rest of the way.
Quarles led the Blazers with 16, Grubbs had 12, and Northington finished with 11.
KJ Vaughn totalled 19 points, Bateman scored 13, and Northington had 10 for the Colonels.
University Heights 17 16 19 17 — 69
Christian County 11 12 13 16 — 52
University Heights (9-14) — Quarles 16, Grubbs 12, L. Northington 11, Wallace 8, Thomas 7, J. Brown 6, Walton 4, C. Brown 3, Hauret 2
Christian County (8-21) — K. Vaughn 19, Bateman 13, P. Northington 10, Morrison 6, Miles 2
