A quick start and 30-point nights for both Rex Blue and Montgomery Johnston sent hosts Dawson Springs to an 83-60 victory over Trigg County on Friday, the Panthers’ first win in the last four against the Wildcats.
Playing their fifth straight game without leading scorer Jhaden Vaughn, the Wildcats trailed 10-2 after back-to-back three-pointers by Blue and Johnston. Johnston connected on two more threes to score 16 first-quarter points and put the Panthers in front 25-4.
Seven more points in the second pushed Johnston to 23 in the first half, with his three-pointer with a minute left making it 41-24 at the halftime break. Blue added five in the frame to help the duo outscore the Wildcats by 11 on their own.
Jerimyah Shearer got going for the Wildcats with 11 points in the third, but Blue countered with 12 to help Dawson Springs continue to stretch the lead. Trigg got as close as 16 after Davaree Gude’s layup made it 57-41 with :51 left in the quarter, but a pair of technical fouls on the Wildcats and a Blue triple pushed it back out to 25 to start the fourth.
Trigg threatened to climb back into it with a 15-5 run to start the final frame, forcing a Panther timeout after Timmy Williams scored down low to trim the lead to 71-56. But the Panthers had the answer, closing the game on a 12-4 spurt to finish off the Wildcats.
Johnston led all scorers with 32, including four three-pointers, and Blue drilled six from behind the arc to finish with 30.
Trigg had three players in double figures, with Shearer, Gude, and Luke Terrell all scoring 13.
The Wildcats lost for the fourth time in their last five to slip to 10-13 ahead of a Play Like the Pros matchup with St. Mary on Monday at the FedExForum in Memphis.
Dawson Springs won its third straight to improve to 14-10 with a trip to Logan County coming up on Tuesday.
Trigg County 7 17 19 17 — 60
Dawson Springs 25 16 25 15 — 83
Trigg County (10-13) — Gude 13, Shearer 13, Terrell 13, Bush 6, Breckel 5, Bridges 4, Williams 4, Carter 2
Dawson Springs (14-10) — Johnston 32, Blue 30, Fain 8, Plunkette 7, Bourland 2, Dever 2
