Hopkinsville Back in District Title Game with Win Over Fort Campbell

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The Hopkinsville Tigers will get the chance to play for their first 8th District championship since 2017. The Tigers advanced to Thursday night’s title game by handling Fort Campbell 71-22 in Tuesday night’s first semifinal game.

You have to give the Falcons some credit for putting up a fight coming out of the gate. When the two teams met in late January, Hopkinsville blitzed them 33-0 in the first quarter. The Falcons did not let that happen again this time.

Fort Campbell actually led at 2-0 and 4-2 before the Tigers took the lead for good at 7-4. With the score at 7-6, Hopkinsville delivered the knockout blow for the night. The Tigers would score 14 unanswered to take a 21-6 lead, which would be 21-8 at the quarter’s end.

With Amari Waddy and Aidan Blaszkowski leading the way, the Falcons would score the first four points of the second quarter to cut the lead to nine at 21-12. But ultimately, the Hopkinsville size, quickness, and depth would take its toll on Fort Campbell. The Tigers hit the Falcons with a 16-4 blitz to end any thoughts of a big comeback as the lead grew to 37-16.

Hoptown also heated up from behind the arc in the second getting threes from Bubba Leavell, Xavier Dowlen, DeBryan Johnson, and Gavarion Northington as the Tigers pushed the lead out to 44-18 at the half. The 18 points for the Falcons was three more than they scored in four quarters in the previous matchup between the two teams.

The Tigers opened the second half on an 8-2 run to get the lead out to 52-20, and the question became whether or not the Falcons could fight off the running clock in the second half. A basket from Xavier Dowlen with 15 seconds left in the third gave the Tigers a 58-22 lead going into the final quarter, which would then be played out quickly with the running clock coming into play.

The Tiger reserves would then pitch a shutout in the final quarter as Hopkinsville rolled out to the final 49 point margin.

Hopkinsville was led by DeBryan Johnson, who came off the bench to score 12 points. Xavier Dowlen also came off the bench and added 11 points. K.C. Cabiness and Isaiah Manning finished with 10 points each.

Fort Campbell was paced by Aidan Blaszkowski with 8 points. Amari Waddy ended the game with 6 points for the Falcons.

The win moves Hopkinsville to 20-6 on the year and into the championship game at Tiger Gym at 8pm Thursday night. The Tigers’ last championship game win came in the 2017 8th District tournament.

For the Falcons, the season comes to an end at 2-22, after not being able to play in the 2020-2021 season due to restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic.

FCHS  —   8     10      4      0  –  22
HHS   —  21     23    14     13  –  71

Fort Campbell (2-22) – Blaszkowski 8, Waddy 6, Castro 2, C. Tate 2, Brown 2, Wood 2,

Hopkinsville (20-6) – Johnson 12, Dowlen 11, Cabiness 10, Manning 10, Leavell 8, Williams 8, Northington 6, Mercer 2, Smith 2, Gavin 2

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