While 8th-District seeding may have already been settled before University Heights and Christian County took the floor on Friday night in front of a packed house, the rematch between the teams had the intensity of a postseason contest.
The Blazers started strong and kept their poise after things got heated at the end of the first half to avenge a two-point loss to the Colonels with a 59-41 victory.
Derrell Bateman opened the scoring with a dunk off a lob, but the Colonels only managed four more points for the remainder of the first quarter. Elijah Walton provided the early offense with six points to help the Blazers to an 11-6 advantage.
Lemar Northington II scored six points in an 8-0 Blazer run to start the second quarter, forcing a Christian County timeout. A Bateman drive and a three-pointer for Prince Northington II pulled the Colonels within five, but a Lemar Northington II bucket and a three-point play pushed the Blazers’ cushion back to ten at the halftime break.
Just before the horn to end the half, players got tangled up after a loose ball, resulting in the ejection of Bateman, the Colonels’ leading scorer at 18 points per game, and UHA’s Trevonne Wallace.
Quinton Quarles knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the third quarter for the Blazers, the second making it 41-25 with 1:46 left in the frame. Christian County’s Jordan Miles capped a six-point quarter with a pair of free throws inside the final minute before Gavin Grubbs restored the 16-point gap for UHA.
A 7-0 spurt to start the final frame put the Blazers out of reach. Miles and George Sanders combined for 13 points over the last eight minutes for the Colonels, but they couldn’t get any closer than 17 the rest of the way.
Northington II led the Blazers with 17 points, followed by Walton and Quarles with ten each.
Miles was the lone Colonel in double figures with 13, all in the second half.
The Blazers evened their district record a,t 1-1 with matchups at Fort Campbell and Hopkinsville coming up in the next two games.
Christian County suffered its first district loss of the season to slip to 12-10 overall. The Colonels will travel to Logan County on Tuesday.
Christian County 6 9 12 14 — 41
University Heights 11 14 18 16 — 59
Christian County (12-10) — Miles 13, Sanders 8, Riley 5, Bateman 4, Morrison 4, Vaughn 4, Northington II 3
University Heights (16-8) — Northington II 17, Quarles 10, Walton 10, Grubbs 9, C. Brown 4, Hauret 4, Baker 2, Thomas 2, J. Brown 1
