An early run set the Hopkinsville Tigers on the way Friday night in Elkton. Hopkinsville closed out the regular season with a 70-47 win over the Todd County Central Rebels, giving the Tigers their third straight win and sixth in the last seven games.
The Tigers came out and tried to deliver the knockout blow early. With their pressure defense proving the spark, the Tigers scored the first ten points of the game. In addition to having to fight through the Hopkinsville defense, when the Rebels got a look at the basket, shots just would not go down in the opening minutes of the game.
Todd County Central finally broke the ice more than five minutes into the game on a basket by Connor Holder.
The good news for the Rebels in the opening quarter was that while they were struggling to get points on the board, the Tigers were not blistering hot, so they were able to stay within eyesight in the first quarter.
Hopkinsville got a huge first quarter from James Bradley Jr., who scored 12 points as the Tigers took a 22-7 lead after one.
Both team had issues getting shots to fall as the second quarter got underway. More than halfway into the quarter, the Rebels had limited Hopkinsville to just four points. The problem was they had scored just five of their own and trimmed just one point off the lead at 26-12.
That missed opportunity would cost the Rebels over the final minutes of the half. Led by James Bradley Jr. and Layton Lindsey, Hopkinsville closed out the half on a 8-2 run that sent the Tigers off to the break with a 34-14 lead.
With Tay Shemwell providing a spark, the Rebels came out and trimmed the Hopkinsville lead to 39-22. Hopkinsville responded with a quick 7-0 run that ran the lead out to 46-22.
Todd County Central could get no closer than 19 points for the rest of the quarter. Jonovan Leavell’s jumper at the horn gave the Tigers a 59-31 lead at the end of the quarter.
The Tigers got a solid team effort in the third with four players scoring at least four points in the third. For Todd County Central, 8th grader Spencer Pool had one of his best quarters of the season with 7 points.
The Rebels got a jolt of energy from Tay Shemwell to open the final quarter and got a 10-2 spurt to open the fourth, cutting the lead to 61-41 with just under four minutes to go. But that would be as close as Todd County Central would get as Hopkinsville went on to take the 23-point victory.
James Bradley Jr. led a trio of Tigers in double figures with 20 points, 16 of them in the first half of play. Jonovan Leavell added 14 points, including three made 3-pointers. Layton Lindsey ended up with 10 points.
For Todd County Central, Tay Shemwell and Spencer Pool scored 12 points each. All of Shemwell’s points came in the second half. J.R. Cardwell contributed 5 points.
Hopkinsville finishes the regular season at 14-14. The Tigers will now head to the 8th District semifinals Tuesday night, where they await the winner of Monday night’s game between Heritage Christian Academy and Fort Campbell.
The Rebels end the regular season at 2-26. Todd County Central will open play in the 13th District tournament Monday night at 7:30 when the Rebels take on Logan County.
