The Hopkins County Central Storm bounced back from a 7th-District championship-game loss to go on the road and knock off Henderson County 63-52 in the 2nd-Region quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
The Storm, appearing in the region tournament for the first time in four years, pick up their first region victory since the 2008/09 season. They improve to 15-12 on the season and travel to Hopkinsville to play the host Tigers in one of Thursday’s semifinals.
Hopkins Central never trailed and led 18-10 after the 1st quarter. Marcus Eaves broke an 8-8 tie with a 3-pointer, and Trevor Weldon closed the quarter with a 3 at the buzzer for the Storm.
Two free throws by Wesley Morris gave the Storm their first double-digit lead at 23-13 with 5:18 left in the 2nd. However, Henderson got the margin back down to five after Gerard Thomas’ 3-pointer to end the 1st half.
Thomas’ jumper to start the 3rd cut it to three at 28-25, but that would be as close as Henderson would get in the 2nd half. The Storm stretched it back to double digits after a Weldon floater made it 40-29, and they led by 13 with a quarter to play.
Thomas scored eight straight, including a pair of 3-pointers to trim the margin to seven and force a Hopkins Central timeout with 6:29 to play. The Storm left the door open when they twice missed the front end on 1-and-1 attempts, but the Colonels couldn’t gain any ground.
Drake Skeen hit four straight free throws, and Morris added a pair to build the advantage back to 13, and Hopkins Central wasn’t threatened the rest of the way.
Eaves led the Storm with 23 points and 12 rebounds, followed by Weldon and Skeen with 12 points each, and Morris with 11 and nine.
Thomas was the lone Colonel in double figures, finishing with a game-high 27 points to go with eight rebounds.
Hopkins Central 18 10 18 17 — 63
Henderson 10 13 10 19 — 52
Hopkins Central (15-12) — Eaves 23, Skeen 12, Weldon 12, Morris 11, Hall 5
Henderson (18-13) — Thomas 27, Satterfield 8, Davenport 5, Dixon 4, Wilson 4, Rideout 2
