Make it six straight wins for the University Heights Academy Blazers and this latest one came thanks to a “jaw-dropping” second-half performance. After trailing by nine in the opening moments of the second half, the Blazers cranked up the heat on their defense to “doggone hot” and the Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons could find no cool oasis to find respite as UHA “blazed” its way to a 62-41 win.
The Blazers were trailing 29-20 early in the third quarter when the pressure defense ignited a 13-0 run that put UHA up 33-29 and the Blazers would never trail again. Madisonville would tie the game briefly at 33-33 but the Blazers unleashed an 11-0 run that effectively put the game away.
The first quarter was typical UHA-Madisonville basketball. Both teams were getting after it in terms of physical play and defense. After Gavin Grubbs hit a three to put UHA up 3-0, the Maroons, led by Marcus Eaves, scored nine straight to go up 9-3. The Blazers then scored the final six points of the opening quarter to tie it up at 9-9. Preston Thomas had four points during that stretch for UHA.
The first quarter was grind-it-out basketball, with both teams having trouble finding their shooting eye. Not much would change as the second quarter got started.
The lead changed hands four times in the early part of the second quarter. Both teams continued to play physical and both teams had issues at times with finding the basket and ball security. Led by the play of Destin Cheirs, the Maroons did get a little offensive rhythm going late in the half. Cheirs made the biggest play of the half to give Madisonville-North Hopkins some momentum going into the break.
As Madisonville went for the final shot of the half, Marcus Eaves was just off target on the shot, but Cheirs was in the right place under the basket to grab the rebound and get a putback plus one with .1-seconds to in the half and send the Maroons off with a 27-20 lead.
By the time UHA had finished their two third-quarter runs, the Blazers had a 44-35 lead going into the final quarter. There were stretches of play in the third where it felt as if the Maroons might not get the ball anywhere near the basket, with many of the turnovers leading to UHA runouts at the other end. And, for the Maroons, it got no better in the fourth quarter.
The UHA pressure continued to result in runouts and no good looks at the basket for the Maroons. And UHA was in the mood to take advantage of almost every miscue Madisonville-North Hopkins handed over. With the score at 51-38 early in the fourth, the Blazers delivered the final nail in the form of an 11-0 that pushed the lead out to 62-38. Madisonville would score the final three points of the game to get to the final 21-point margin.
Every player that found the court for the Blazers in the game contributed to the defensive effort, which at times to the Maroons had to have felt like a swarm of angry bees had been released from the hive in Blazer Gym.
The second-half offensive explosion was keyed by the play of Quinton Quarles and Gavin Grubbs. Quarles led the second half scoring with 14, giving him 16 total for the game. Grubbs led the Blazers for the game with 19 points, 12 of them coming in the second half. Lemar Northington just missed double-figures with 8 points, but Northington’s defense and hustle were of critical importance in the second half.
And, while it does not necessarily show on the stat sheet, the Blazers inside tandem of Elijah Walton and Kyler Baker battled the Maroon big men inside and made big defensive plays and came up with big rebounds as the Blazers started running away.
Madisonville was led by Marcus Eaves with 20 points. Destin Cheirs added seven for the Maroons.
The win for UHA avenges a 46-45 loss to the Maroons back in December and improves the Blazers to 13-6. The Blazers will travel to McCracken County on Monday before heading off to Richmond for the All A Classic.
MNHHS – 9 18 8 6 — 41
UHA – 9 11 24 18 — 62
Madisonville-North Hopkins – Eaves 20, Cheirs 7, Harvey 3, Ratcliff 3, Butler 3, Watkins 2, McAdoo 2, Frazier 1,
University Heights – Grubbs 19, Quarles 16, Northington 8, Thomas 7, Walton 4, J. Brown 3, C. Brown 2, Wallace 2
