Bench-Clearing Incident Ends Christian County-Paducah Tilghman Game

For most of the night, it had been an intense, hard-played, basketball game with huge momentum swings. Then things got out of hand and not just a little out of hand. With just over two minutes to go in Thursday night’s game between Christian County and Paducah Tilghman in the Toyota of Hopkinsville Holiday Hoops Classic at Hopkinsville High School, a bench-clearing incident between the teams led officials to end the game and resulted in administration at the site clearing the gym as quickly as possible following the ending of the game.

WIth Paducah Tilghman leading 67-60, Christian County was called for a foul under the Blue Tornado basket. While the foul call was being administered, a Christian County player ended up on his back on the Tilghman end of the floor. Almost instantaneously, the benches emptied and the incident quickly spread across the floor. Coaches, administrators, and law enforcement quickly took to the gym floor in an effort to end the incident as quickly as possible.

Once the parties were separated, administrators announced that the game would end with the 67-60 score and that everyone needed to leave the gym as soon as possible.

There will likely be action from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association as a result of the incident. In addition to those deemed to be involved directly, past KHSAA rulings have also ended up with a suspension for players who leave the bench during an incident. After the game, officials from the game were seen at the scorer’s table working to determine what they will report in regards to what happened.

The 67-60 score will be the final score of the contest.

The game started innocently enough with no indication of what would end the night. For the first eight minutes of the game, the Christian County Colonels gave a strong indication of just how good they can be this season. The Colonels hit the Blue Tornado with a huge first quarter run and had things rolling in their direction.

After Tilghman took a quick 4-0 lead in the contest, the Colonels had arguably their best stretch of basketball this young season. Christian County responded with 18 straight points to go up 18-4. NaDarien Rowe and Rahsean Stevenson played big roles in the run.

The quarter would end with Christian County up 20-11 and seemingly having all the momentum on their side.

Tilghman came out to open the second quarter and turned up the pressure on their full court defense and it soon began to reap dividends for the Blue Tornado as Christian County lost its shooting eye and began to have ball security issues against the pressure.

Trailing 25-15, Paducah Tilghman closed out the half on an 18-4 run and went into the locker room at the half holding a 33-29 lead. Avery Thompson and Miles Woodfork helped get the Blue Tornado offense up to speed in the second quarter.

Christian County got a basket from Kam Williams to start the second half and cut the lead to 33-31 but Tilghman then responded with a tough 8-0 run to push the lead out to double figures at 41-31. Miles Woodfork had a couple of key baskets in the spurt.

WIth its pressure defense providing the impetus, the Paducah Tilghman lead would reach as many as 18 in the third. The quarter ended with the Blue Tornado leading the Colonels 56-41.

The Blue Tornado lead reached 60-45 early in the fourth quarter when the Colonels made one last charge to get back in the game. With the ‘Z’ factor in play, Christian County made a frenetic run back. Zion Acree and Zyon Wharton keyed the lightning-quick run that got Christian County all the way back to within two with just over 3 minutes to play.

With the lead down to 62-60, the Blue Tornado got big plays from Miles Woodfork and Ahmad Wilkins to push the lead back out to 67-60 before things fell apart.

Christian County was led by Zion Acree with 14 points, 11 in the second half. NaDarien Rowe added 10 points. Zyon Wharton had 9 points and was a big factor on the glass in the second half.

For Paducah Tilghman, Miles Woodfork ended up with 21 points. Owen Mikel chipped in with 13 points.

Christian County (0-5) is scheduled to play its second game in the Toyota of Hopkinsville Holiday Hoops Classic Saturday evening as the Colonels take on South Warren.