After missing out on the trip to the 2nd Region tournament last season, the Hopkinsville Tigers are now headed back that way. The Tigers came out and took care of business Tuesday night in a 91-41 win over Heritage Christian Academy, thus ending the Warriors’ season and the high school career of the state’s leading scorer Jason Leek.
However, it was the Warriors that came out and set the early tone Tuesday night. HCA came out in attack mode and was able to get up and down the floor. With Jason Leek on the outside and Sam Thompson on the inside, Heritage Christian scored the first 8 points of the game to take an 8-0 lead.
On the other end, HCA played tough defense and when Hopkinsville could get a good look, the shots were not falling. The Tigers finally broke the ice on a pair of free throws from James Bradley Jr. with 3:32 to go in the first quarter to make it 8-2. Hopkinsville got its first field goal with 2:04 to go in the first quarter on a basket from Jonathan Hart to make it 10-4.
And that turned out to be just what the Tigers needed to get rolling. Hopkinsville turned the defensive pressure to ‘extra hot’ and honed in on shutting down Jason Leek. HCA went four consecutive trips without getting the ball to mid-court as the Tigers ripped off an 11-0 run to take a 13-10 lead late in the first.
Heritage got a late basket to cut the Hopkinsville lead to 13-12 after the opening quarter.
Warriors fans’ hopes got a boost in the opening moments of the second quarter as Nathan Wheatdraft drained a three to put Heritage Christian back in front 15-13. And then the roof came crashing down on the Warriors.
The Hopkinsville pressure began to take its toll and when the Warriors could actually get a look at the basket, the shots would not go down. Plus, after seeing the Warriors go toe-to-toe with them on the boards in the first quarter, Hopkinsville began to own the boards in the second. That was exemplified by a possession where the Tigers got five shots at the basket before drawing a foul on the sixth shot attempt.
With Jonovan Leavell and James Bradley leading the way, Hopkinsville went on a 20-0 run that put the game firmly under the Tigers control. And, after being contained in the first eight minutes, big man Layon Giltner became a big factor against his former teammates in the second, scoring five points.
The half came to an end with Hopkinsville holding a 41-21 lead and rolling towards a trip to Friday night’s district championship game.
Things did not get much better for the Warriors as the second half got started. Hopkinsville opened the third quarter outscoring HCA 16-6 to run the lead out to 57-27. Jonovan Leavell and James Bradley Jr. continued their big nights as the Tigers pulled away.
The final back-breaker for the Warriors came with 5:03 to go in the third when Jason Leek fouled out, ending his night and his Warrior career.
Hopkinsville closed out the third quarter with a 16-2 to take a 73-32 lead into the final quarter. Reserves took over the action on the court for Hopkinsville with 1:30 left to go in the quarter.
The Tiger backups kept the foot on the gas over the final 8 minutes as Hopkinsville ran it on out to the final 50-point margin.
Jonovan Leavell led Hopkinsville with 23 points. James Bradley Jr. finished with 18. Curtis Dillard came off the bench to get 11 points. Layton Giltner just missed double figures with 9.
In his final high school game, Jason Leek scored 10 points and was the only Warrior to get into double figures. Sam Thompson added 8 points. Cooper Kirkman and Jacob Morgan finished with 6 points each.
With the win, Hopkinsville improves to 15-14 and, after a one-year absence returns to the 8th District championship game and the 2nd Region tournament, where they reached the championship game in both 2022 and 2023.
Heritage Christian finishes their second season as a full-fledged KHSAA member at 11-18.
