There have not been many seasons for the Dawson Springs Panthers where they have knocked off both Madisonville-North Hopkins and Hopkins County Central in the same season. Much less doing it in a span of just four days. That feat was completed Friday night as the Panthers used a 3-point barrage to get early control of the game and then went on to take a 71-60 win over the Hopkins County Central Storm in Dawson Springs and complete the regular season sweep of the Storm in 7th District play.
The Panthers came out locked in from beyond the arc. Five of Dawson Springs’ first six baskets were 3-point shots as the Panthers took a 17-11 lead. Four different players made one of the deep shots with Rex Blue being the only one to make two.
Karon Hopson and Lake Sumner did their best to keep the Storm in the game over the final moments of the quarter. The first ended with Dawson Springs 21-13.
The Panther offense did not cool down as the second quarter opened up. After a Hopkins County Central basket, Dawson Springs ripped off a 21-4 run, blowing the lead out to 42-19. The Panther lead would be 44-25 as the teams headed off into the locker room at the break.
The Central defense was not able to control the Dawson trio of Rex Blue, Montgomery Johnston, and Easton Bourland over the first 16 minutes of the game.
Things got a little heated as the half ended. Rex Blue would end up with a technical foul as the horn sounded.
One milestone in the first half as Dawson Springs’ Montgomery Johnston became the school’s second-leading all-time scorer in boys’ basketball.
After being limited to just the two technical free throws in the first half, the Storm’s Davonyae Butcher caught a little bit of lightning in a bottle to start the second half. After a jumper in the lane from Dawson’s Noah Riley, Butcher buried three consecutive threes to cut the lead from 46-25 down to 46-34.
A Jaydon Plunkette three stemmed the tide for the moment, but the Storm kept battling and went into the fourth quarter down 55-42.
Dawson Springs diffused the comeback with the start of the fourth quarter. The Panthers scored seven straight and held Hopkins County Central scoreless for the first three minutes of the quarter as they pushed the lead back out to 62-42. The Panthers got big plays from Noah Riley and Rex Blue during the stretch.
The Storm also put the clamps on Davonyae Butcher and did not allow him to score again for the rest of the game after his third quarter 3-point flurry.
The Panthers spread the floor for the final minutes of the game and made just enough free throws to take the 11-point win.
Rex Blue with a big night for the Panthers, finishing with 22 points. Montgomery Johnston added 19. Easton Bourland had some timely buckets and racked up 18 points. Jaydon Plunkette hit a pair of threes for his 6 points.
Lake Sumner was the leading scorer for Hopkins County Central with 19 points. Davonyae Butcher had 11, all coming in a four minute span in the middle of the game. Karon Hopson and Channing Stone ended up with 8 points each.
With the win, Dawson Springs goes to 12-9 overall and 3-3 in district play. The Panthers host Heritage Christian Saturday night.
Hopkins County Central drops to 7-12 overall and 0-6 in the 7th District. The Storm go on the road to McLean County Monday night.
