The University Heights Academy boys’ basketball team made it three wins in three tries against 8th-District competition with a 77-62 victory over visiting Christian County on Friday. The Blazers led for all but two minutes in front of a sold-out crowd to hand the Colonels their first district setback.
With UHA trailing 3-0, Que Quarles knocked down a jumper and came up with a steal and layup to put the Blazers in front for good with 6:13 left in the first quarter. Elijah Walton’s basket on the baseline followed by a corner jumper for Tylin George made it 13-5 and forced a Christian County timeout, and the Blazers led 17-10 after the opening eight minutes.
A 7-3 start to the second quarter pulled the Colonels to within three points, but UHA answered with a 7-0 spurt, capped by a steal and layup by Quarles, to open up its first double-digit advantage at 27-17 with 5:28 left in the half. Kam Williams’ short jumper and a technical foul on the Blazers allowed Christian County to cut the margin to six with just over a minute until the break, and that was the difference at the half after UHA’s Elijah Walton scored in the lane in the final seconds.
Miles and Derrell Bateman combined for 14 of the Colonels’ 19 points in the second quarter, and UHA countered with seven from George and five for Quarles.
Bateman duplicated his second-quarter output in the third, but the Colonels never got closer than seven points in the frame. The Blazers pushed the margin out to ten points on three occasions, and they took their largest lead so far on Walton’s layup for a 53-41 score with 1:54 left in the quarter.
Layups by Prince Northington II and Miles trimmed the margin to four to start the fourth before Kyler Baker capped an 8-0 run with a three-point play to restore UHA’s double-digit cushion at 61-49. Christian County twice closed to within seven points, but after a foul and a technical on the Colonels with 1:36 left, the Blazers closed the game on a 10-2 run.
After a Blazer dunk in the closing moments, a serious injury to a UHA player that required an ambulance caused the game to be called with twenty-nine seconds left on the clock.
Miles led all scorers with 27 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter. Bateman also reached double figures for the Colonels with 15, ten points below his season average.
UHA had four players in double digits, led by George with 23. Grubbs scored eight in the fourth to finish with 16, Walton scored 15, and Quarles added 14.
Christian County slipped to 7-13 with its fourth straight defeat and will look to regroup before a trip to McCracken County on Saturday.
UHA improved to 13-4 with its eighth victory in its last nine outings and will be back in action on Saturday against Butler at the Beaver Dam Tourism Hall of Fame Classic at Ohio County.
Christian County 10 22 13 17 — 62
University Heights 17 19 15 24 — 77
Christian County (7-13) — Miles 27, Bateman 15, Williams 9, Northington II 6, Rowe 3, Quarles 2
University Heights (13-4) — George 23, Grubbs 16, Walton 15, Quarles 14, Baker 5
