Madisonville-North Hopkins has secured the No. 1 seed as the Maroons look to win their 15th straight 7th District basketball tournament championship.
Madisonville took down Caldwell County 71-46 Tuesday night in a battle for the top spot.
A big second quarter helped the Maroons grab control of that contest.
Caldwell (13-8 overall, 4-2 district) actually got off to a great start in the matchup.
The Tigers bolted to an 8-point lead, and were still up 18-11 late in the stanza.
But Montae Ratcliff buried a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the period and trim the gap to 18-14.
The Maroons continued to ride that momentum in the second quarter.
Madisonville (14-11, 5-1) quickly blew past Caldwell to get the lead, and used a 30-7 advantage in the frame to build a 44-25 margin at halftime on Senior Night.
The outcome was never in doubt after the break. Madisonville led by as much as 29 points late in the game on the way to completing a regular-season sweep of the Tigers.
Madisonville had to rally late in the earlier meeting to get out of Princeton with a 63-62 decision. But no late-game heroics we’re needed in the rematch.
The Maroons have now won 18 straight against Caldwell going back to February of 2017.
Kanyon Johnson led a balanced Madisonville effort with 14 points Tuesday night. Landon Smith finished with 12 and Ratcliff had 11. Vonte Wilkes and Ryan Bryant each tossed in eight points.
Jaydarius Wilson led Caldwell with 11 points, but eight of those came during the Tigers’ big first quarter. Carter Whittington had eight points.
The top-seeded Maroons will face No. 4 Hopkins County Central when the 7th District tourney gets underway the last week of February in Madisonville.
Caldwell will be the No. 2 seed and will play third-seeded Dawson Springs in the district semifinals.
The Tigers had won eight of their previous 10 games heading into Tuesday’s matchup.
Caldwell next hits the road for a matchup at Muhlenberg County on Thursday.
Madisonville then goes to Muhlenberg on Friday.
Caldwell County 18 7 8 13 — 46
Madisonville-NH 14 30 12 15 — 71
Caldwell County (13-8, 4-2)—J. Wilson 11, Ca. Whittington 8, Co. Whittington 6, Parker 4, Thompson 4, K. Wilson 3, Rowland 2, Maddox 2, Hammett 2, Lander 2, Ramage 2.
Madisonville-North Hopkins (14-11, 5-1)—Johnson 14, Smith 12, Ratcliff 11, Wilkes 8, Bryant 8, Peyton 6, Gant 6, Howard 4, Adler 2.
