Union County was seconds away from ending a 15-game losing streak to Madisonville and picking up its first win at the region tournament in four years. But Zach Tow wasn’t ready for the Maroons’ season to end just yet.
The senior took a pass in the paint from Kale Gaither and hit the game-tying bucket ahead of the horn the send Tuesday’s region tournament quarterfinal to overtime. Five Maroons scored in the extra period to give Madisonville an 81-75 win.
All of Tow’s 11 points came in the second half, but it was Gaither who consistently made key shots for the Maroons. The senior guard, who surpassed 2,500 career points last month, added 35 more to that total Tuesday. Gaither scored 11 points in the second quarter and 12 in the third as the Maroons built a 39-32 halftime lead only to see Union come back to tie the game in the third quarter.
Gaither banked in a shot from just inside the half-court line at the end of the third quarter to put the Maroons up 54-50.
The Braves began the fourth quarter with a 12-2 run capped by a dunk by Kaleb Kanipe with 4:41 left.
The game was tied at 64 and 66 before Kanipe dunked home the go-ahead basket with 15 seconds left. After a Madisonville timeout with 5.7 seconds left, Gaither drove the paint and dished to Tow who scored ahead of the buzzer to send the game to the first overtime game in the series since 1982.
Madisonville scored the first five points of the extra period. Union County twice cut the deficit to two points, the last at 77-75 with 52 seconds left. The Maroons were able to make just enough free throws, and Union misfired on two 3-pointers inside the final 24 seconds to seal the win.
Lajuan McAdoo scored 15 points for the Maroons, with nine coming in the first quarter when Madisonville fell behind 15-5 and was struggling to score. McAdoo banked home a 3-pointer at the end of the quarter to get the Maroons to within 21-16 after the first eight minutes.
The Maroons also got a big defensive boost from Quintin Rodgers, who also hit a pair of key free throws in the overtime.
Kanipe scored 28 points to lead Union County, with seven coming in the overtime. Izaiah Manuel added 16 points, and Ethan Corbett scored 15.
Union County had 14 turnovers in the game with seven coming in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Madisonville will play Lyon County in the region tourney semifinals Thursday at Hopkinsville High School.
Union County 21 11 18 18 7– 75
Madisonville 16 23 15 14 13– 81
Union County [19-10] – Kanipe 28, Manuel 16, Corbett 15, Mackey 11, Jones 3, King 2
Madisonville [23-8] – Gaither 35, McAdoo 15, Tow 11, Gaines 9, Cheirs 5, Frazier 2, Rodgers 2, Butler 2
