Hopkins County Central went from 12 points down to 13 points up.
The big turnaround helped the Storm advance to the 7th District championship game with a 79-68 victory over Caldwell County in the semifinals Tuesday night in Princeton.
Third-seeded Hopkins Central (14-11) will take on top-seeded Madisonville-North Hopkins (21-8) for the district title Friday night at 6:00 at Caldwell County High School. Both teams have earned berths in next week’s 2nd Region tournament.
Caldwell County used a 15-0 run early in the contest to go up 15-4 and led 17-8 after one quarter.
It was 20-8 before the Storm started chipping away at the Tiger lead.
Caldwell led at halftime, but the margin had been trimmed to 33-28.
The Storm then blew past the Tigers in the third quarter, outscoring them 24-14 in the frame to go up 52-47.
Caldwell (18-11) couldn’t recover, and Hopkins Central led by as much as 13 in the final frame. The Storm used a 51-35 second-half advantage to pull out the 11-point triumph.
Marcus Eaves scored 35 points to lead all scorers, netting 17 in the first half and 18 after the break for Hopkins Central. Wesley Morris added 19 points and Drake Skeen had 17, including four 3-pointers.
Jabrion Spikes had another big night for Caldwell, scoring 17 points in the final frame and finishing with 34. Zavy Bumphus added 16 points and Demaurius Thompson had 11.
Hopkins Central had dropped eight straight to the Tigers before Tuesday’s win. The Storm edged ahead in the all-time series 28-27.
Hopkins Central 8 20 24 27 — 79
Caldwell County 17 16 14 21 — 68
Hopkins County Central (14-11) — Eaves 35, Morris 19, Skeen 17, Weldon 4, Hall 2, Jones 2.
Caldwell County (18-11) — Spikes 34, Bumphus 16, Thompson 11, Riley 4, Ca. Whittington 3.
