Blazers Get Back on Track with Road Win Over Storm

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Some nights you just have to find a way to push on through. Thursday night was one of those nights, especially early on for the University Heights Academy Blazers. The Blazers battled some early shooting woes and fought off the long-range shooting of Hopkins County Central to take a 69-51 win over the Storm in Mortons Gap.

UHA scored the first five points of the game and never trailed, leading by double-digits for most of the night.

The Blazers, who lost in heartbreaking fashion in four overtimes last Friday night at the All A Classic, may have been dealing with a little ‘All A lag’ as the game got started. Still, the Blazer defense was in full force as they limited the Storm to just two field goals in the opening quarter on the way to taking a 14-4 lead. Lemar Northington got off to a quick start to help the Blazers get out to the double-digit lead.

The two teams played fairly even throughout the second quarter. The Blazers got some big performances from Preston Thomas and Quinton Quarles as the lead was at 29-18 going into the break. One telling stat of the Blazer shooting woes in the first half was going just 3 of 8 from the line.

The Blazers came back from the break and promptly ripped off an 8-2 run to extend the lead to 37-20. Elijah Walton, who had been held scoreless in the opening half, found his stride in the second half, becoming a big factor down in the paint.

Thanks to their 3-point shooting, the Storm was able to stay just within sight of the Blazers. Central would knock down ten threes on the game, seven of them coming in the second half. Still, the Storm could only get as close as 13 points in the third quarter. The quarter ended with UHA holding a 53-37 lead.

A quick 8-3 spurt to open the final quarter cut the Blazer lead to 11 at 56-45. UHA then put the game away with nine straight points and cruised on out to the 18 point win. The depth of UHA likely played a role in the Blazers wearing Hopkins Central down and pulling away late. Several times during the game Coach Melvin Brown would sub four and five Blazers at a time.

Lemar Northington led the way for UHA with 15 points. Preston Thomas and Elijah Walton added 10 points each.

For Hopkins Central, Trevor Weldon had 12 points. Trevahn Jones added 11, including three 3-pointers. Drake Skeen had 11 and three 3’s as well for the Storm.

UHA improves to 15-8 with the win, while Hopkins Central drops to 11-12.

The Blazers are set to return to action Saturday when they host Christian County.

 

UHA    –   14   15   24   16   —   69
HCCHS –  4    14   19   14   —   51

University Heights – Northington 15, Thomas 10, Walton 10, Quarles 9, Wallace 6, Grubbs 5, Baker 5, Hauret 3, C. Brown 2, J. Brown 2, Daniels 2

Hopkins County Central – Weldon 12, Jones 11, Skeen 11, Butcher 8, Hall 7, Heard 2

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