Trailing by ten in the fourth quarter on Wednesday and facing the prospect of a fifth straight defeat to 8th-District rivals Christian County, the Hopkinsville Tigers rallied to close the game on a 15-3 run and snap a six-game slide with a 57-55 victory.
The Tigers topped the Colonels for the first time since a double-overtime win in the district championship game in 2022, evening their district mark at 1-1 and handing Christian County its first district setback.
The Colonels used a strong start to win the first meeting 47-39, and Derrell Bateman scored four early points on Wednesday to race out to a 6-0 advantage and force a Hoptown timeout. The break did little to slow the Colonels’ momentum, and they led 12-4 after four straight points from Jordan Miles.
Bateman scored 13 first-half points, and his dunk off the glass put the Colonels on the verge of a double-digit lead at 25-16 with 3:44 left in the half. However, Bateman would go to the bench soon after and not return, and the Tigers closed the half on an 8-0 run, capped by DeShaun Garland’s jumper at the buzzer to close to within a point at the halftime break.
With Bateman glued to the bench, Miles picked up the scoring slack with 11 points in the third, with the last bucket putting Christian County up 40-33 with less than two minutes to play in the frame. Hopkinsville closed to within four after Antonio Williams connected on one of two free throws before Kam Williams scored on the baseline for the Colonels for a 45-39 score with a quarter to play.
Hopkinsville’s Jarae Leavell opened the fourth with a three-point play, but a Miles basket, a three-pointer by Prince Northington II, and a pull-up jumper by Williams gave Christian County its largest lead of the night at 52-42 with 6:25 to play.
As he had all night, Williams crashed the board for a putback, sparking the Tigers’ decisive rally. After Leavell’s steal and layup, Dudley drilled a corner three to cut the lead to a point and force a Colonel timeout with 3:57 on the clock. Neither team scored over the next two minutes before Dudley drove and found James Bradley for a short floater to give Hopkinsville its first lead at 53-52 with 1:52 left.
With a chance to put the game away, the Tigers came up empty on four attempts at the free throw line before Dudley sank a pair for a three-point lead with fourteen seconds left. Northington II had a good look at a three to tie it for the Colonels, but it rattled out and they were forced to send Williams to the line. He finished a 21-point effort with two makes before Miles’ three at the buzzer went down for the final margin.
Hopkinsville overcame an 11/24 effort at the free throw line to improve to 7-11 ahead of a visit from Madisonville-North Hopkins on Thursday. Christian County slipped to 7-12 with its third loss in a row and will look to regroup before a trip to University Heights on Friday.
Christian County 14 11 20 10 — 55
Hopkinsville 8 16 15 18 — 57
Christian County (7-12) — Miles 22, Bateman 13, Northington II 8, Williams 8, Riley 2, Quarles 2
Hopkinsville (7-11) — Williams 21, Dudley 12, Bradley 6, Leavell 5, Ramey 5, Garland 2, Moses 2, Radford 2
2 Responses
Two terrible teams
What your mouth because one of my son’s is on one of those teams keep your comments to yourself