An avalanche of 3-pointers to start the second half was a bit too much for the Hopkinsville Tigers to fight their way through Saturday afternoon. Calloway County knocked down six shots from behind the arc in the third quarter, including their first four made shots of the second half as the Lakers took a 76-64 win over the Tigers in the second game of the day in the Akridge Ace Hardware Shootout at Lyon County High School.
Most of the damage in the quarter was done by Calloway’s Jonah Butler and Conner Lockhart, who both seemed to be laser-locked in on the basket as the second half got underway. Calloway County would end up making 13 shots from behind the 3-point line for the day, 9 of those coming during the second half.
As if that were not enough of a problem for the Tigers to have to face, Eli Finley began to attack the basket and find his way to the free-throw line.
Calloway County needed both to hold on through a big second-half performance from Hopkinsville’s Antonio Williams. Williams 18 points in the second half but the Tigers just could not get the Lakers to cool down from outside.
The first half was a different story and pace for both teams. Calloway County led 13-8 after the opening quarter as both teams had trouble getting their shots to fall early on. Hoptown would rally from 8 points down early in the second quarter to come back and tie the game at 16-16 and 19-19.
The Lakers got a little momentum going and finished the half with a 9-2 run to go up 28-21 at the break.
Both teams found their offense at the break, but there was a lot of trading 2 for 3, as Calloway could not contain Antonio Williams on the inside, but the Tigers could not slow down the onslaught from Butler, Lockhart, and Armstrong from the outside.
That difference would allow the Lakers to extend the lead to 11 at the end of the third at 52-41.
Calloway County would make three more from behind the arc in the final quarter as they were able to turn back any potential Tiger comeback.
Antonio Williams had a big game for the Tigers with 27 points. Keontae Radford knocked down five 3-pointers for his 15 points in the contest.
Calloway County’s Jonah Butler led all scorers with 33 points, including 8 three-pointers. Eli Finley ended up with 18, 15 of them in the second half. Conner Lockhart added 15 for the Lakers.
Hopkinsville falls to 9-15 with the loss. The Tiger are back in action Monday as they go on the road to Fort Campbell.
CCHS — 13 15 24 24 – 76
HHS — 8 13 20 23 – 64
Calloway County – Butler 33, Finley 18, Lockhart 15, Armstrong 8, Bazzell 2
Hopkinsville – Williams 27, Radford 15, Dudley 8, Leavell 5, Ramey 4, Bradley 3, Moses 2
