Adair County does not want another snowball effect like they endured on Feb. 17 in Eddyville. Lyon County broke open a close game with a 31-3 run en route to a 98-48 win over the Indians.
The teams meet again Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the UK Healthcare Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena.
The Lyons had to grind out a 45-43 win over Ashland Blazer in the opener, rallying from seven points down in the fourth quarter. A team known for its offensive prowess, the 45 points were the fewest scored by Lyon County in five years. However, it was their late-game defense that kept Lyon’s season alive.
Adair County hit nine 3-pointers and shot 62 percent from the field in taking down First Region champ Marshall County 72-55.
“Our whole goal was to kind of get underneath the defense and attack from the baseline and built a lead in the first half,” said Adair County coach Jeffery Freeze. “Once we got the lead, we thought we could go zone and get them out of their man stuff. We came out and hit tonight.”
Adair County has scorers. The Indians average 72 points a game and shoot 52 percent as a team.
The Indians have a pair of juniors getting Division I offers and a third player closing in on 1,000 career points.
Junior Connor Loy had 11 points and eight assists in the win over Marshall County. For the season, he scores 17 points and hands out seven assists. Loy, who has scored nearly 2,300 points, holds a college offer from McNeese State.
Isaiah Cochran also holds an offer from McNeese State along with Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee Tech. The 6-foot-7 junior transferred in from Collins High before the season and gives Adair 17 points and nine rebounds a night.
Freeze knows he will need more from his tandem than that February loss in Eddyville.
Cochran scored 13 points but fouled out in the third quarter. Loy scored 12 points but Freeze said he sat him after he picked up “an uncharacteristic technical foul.”
“We were up 16-14 at the end of the first quarter and it was 23-22 and then it kind of snowballed from there,” Freeze said. “To me, they are the favorite up here but that’s who we want to play.”
Travis Perry scored 30 points for Lyon County and Jack Reddick scored 23 points as the Lyons outscored Adair 26-7 in the second quarter and 37-13 in the third quarter.
Freeze thinks the Lyons will try and turn the pressure up against them as they did in the fourth quarter against Ashland.
“We have to handle their pressure. Ashland missed a three and it looked like four straight trips where Ashland didn’t get a shot off,” he said.
Adair County is in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009 when they advanced to Lexington twice in three years. They advanced to the quarterfinals in 2007 before losing to eventual state champion Scott County.
The Indians have not advanced past the second round since 1955 when they lost to Hazard in the state championship game.
Lyon County is in the quarterfinals for the third straight year but has never advanced to the semifinal round.
Temp will be an interesting strategy for Adair County. The Indians are 8-0 when they score 80 or more points but have hit that mark just once in their last 16 games. They are 1-3 when they fail to score 60 points.
Lyon County is 25-0 when they score 80 or more points and 28-1 when they top 70 points. When teams slow it down, they are 2-2 when they score less than 60 points.
Outside shooting should be another factor in Friday’s game. The Indians shoot 35 percent behind the arc and have five players with 30 or more 3-pointers made. They shot 60 percent in the win over Marshall County.
Lyon County also shoots 35 percent from 3-point range with three players hitting 29 or more. But they were just 2 of 16 in the win over Ashland.
It was a barrage of threes that saw Lyon separate themselves from Adair in the February win and Freeze knows that can’t happen again on Friday.
Adair County Coach Jeffery Freeze discussed Lyon County after the win over Marshall County.
