Livingston Central’s Late Three Overcomes Trigg’s Barrage From the Outside

While it was raining outside of Livingston Central High School on Thursday night, it was also raining 3-pointers inside as the host Cardinals and visiting Trigg County Wildcats combined for 24 long-range shots. However, it was Drew Hosick’s 3-pointer from the wing with 24 seconds left that proved to be the game-winner in Livingston Central’s 77-74 win.

The Cardinals’ victory snapped a 12-game losing streak to Trigg County and came six days after the Wildcats scored a 78-70 win over the Cardinals in Cadiz.

Trigg County hit 12 threes in the first half, needed to overcome 50% shooting by the Cardinals on their home floor. The result was a 42-all tie at the intermission.

The scoring slowed a bit in the third quarter as Livingston adjusted its defense to take away Trigg’s corner 3-pointer looks. The Wildcats were just 1-of-4 behind the arc in the quarter but attacked the lane with Davaree Gude who scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half.

The Wildcats had no answer defensively for Livingston Central’s Logan Wring. The junior, who scored 29 points against Trigg County last week, scored 20 points in the first half and finished with a game-high 32 points.

Wring scored Livingston Central’s first six points of the fourth quarter as Trigg maintained a 66-65 lead. Five straight Wildcat points pushed their lead to 71-65 with 4:08 left.

Brady Stone countered with consecutive buckets and Bryson Walker scored to tie the game with 2:34 left.

Landon Swann buried his eighth 3-pointer of the night with 2:08 left to put Trigg ahead 74-71. Swann finished with a career-high 24 points – all on threes – and was one 3-pointer shy of tying Trigg’s single-game record held by Chris Radford (1988), Chris Sparks (1996), and Rodney Davis (2006).

Livingston Central countered with the two biggest 3-pointers of the night. Mason Hargrove tied the game with 1:25 left and Hosick hit the game-winner with 24 seconds left. The Cardinals had missed their first 11 three-point attempts until the final two shots that won the game.

Trigg County got a good look at a tying 3-pointer ahead of the final horn but missed.

The Wildcats were 16-of-34 behind the arc – two shy of the school record of 18 three set against Lyon County in 1999.

Lance Breckel hit 4-of-7 behind the arc and finished with 12 points for the Wildcats who also got 13 points each from Gude and Caleb Fogle. Gude just missed a triple-double with nine rebounds and nine assists.

Since missing nine games with an injury, Wring is averaging 26 points in the seven games since his return.

Walker added 16 points for the Cardinals and Stone came off the bench to score 10 points and grab eight rebounds.

The back-and-forth affair featured 11 ties and 16 lead changes with each team leading by no more than six points.

The outcome will slot Trigg County and Livingston Central into the 2-3 position in the 5^th District Tournament that begins on Feb. 24 at Trigg’s Wildcat Gym. Top seed Lyon County will open with Crittenden County.

Livingston Central will host Ballard Memorial on Saturday as they look to snap a four-game losing streak to the Bombers.

Trigg County will play at Caldwell County on Friday – part of a doubleheader at the Butler Gym in downtown Princeton.