When taking a look at the 2023 boys’ 8th District tournament, the first thought that comes to mind is that some team, who has the potential to win the region, has to go home for the year Monday night. The tournament tips off Monday evening at Christian County High School with a pair of semifinal-round games.
Even though Christian County, University Heights, and Hopkinsville have all had their ups and downs this season, any of those three teams has the ability to get hot in the postseason and contend for a regional championship. The thing is, one of them will not get the chance and will be starting to look ahead to the 2023-2024 season come Tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, the Fort Campbell Falcons would love nothing more than to pull off a stunning upset and advance to the district title game and, in turn, the 2nd Region tournament for the first time since 2009.
The first game of the tournament Monday night at 6:00 will find the top-seeded Christian County Colonels taking on the Fort Campbell Falcons. During the regular season, the Colonels beat the Falcons twice by nearly identical scores, winning 73-32 on January 26, and then again 72-30 on February 9.
Christian County has dominated the series between the two programs, having not lost to the Falcons in more than 25 years. The last time a game between the two teams was close was back in 2006 in the 8th District tournament when the Colonels beat Fort Campbell in overtime 83-78. It has been nine years since the Falcons broke the 60-point mark against the Colonels.
It would appear that the Falcons’ best chance would be to slow down the pace of the game dramatically and keep the score as low as possible.
Fort Campbell enters the tournament having lost 8 in a row and 11 of their last 12. Christian County comes in having won 6 of their last 9, including an impressive defensive effort in a win against McCracken County.
The second game Monday night will find the University Heights Academy Blazers taking on the Hopkinsville Tigers in what ought to be a battle down to the wire.
The two teams met just once this season. That meeting came back on February 10 with the Blazers taking a 59-53 win in Tiger Gym. One of the big stories of that game was UHA’s effort on the glass. The Blazers outrebounded the Tigers 38-23 in picking up the win that gave them the #2 seed for the tournament.
The last time the two teams met in the 8th District tournament was the 2021 championship game, which the Blazers would win in overtime 64-58. That Blazer team would go on to win the 2nd Region tournament and take the trip to Rupp Arena.
UHA has had the upper hand as of late in the series, winning 9 of the last 12 meetings. Prior to that, the Tigers won 14 games in a row over the Blazers.
Hopkinsville has seen its share of struggles this season. Still, the Tigers have picked up wins over Butler County, Owensboro, Madisonville, and Webster County, who recently upended the Blazers.
University Heights picked up 19 wins in the regular season, including victories over Lyon County, Murray, Henderson County, Madisonville, Webster County, Christian County, and Paducah Tilghman.
The two winners from Monday night will play Thursday night for the 8th District boys’ championship.
