The streak lives on for Madisonville-North Hopkins, but not without a stiff challenge from Dawson Springs.
The Maroons won the 7th District championship for the 16th straight time Thursday night when they held off the Panthers late for a 70-61 decision in Princeton.
While Madisonville has a lengthy string of district titles, Dawson was seeking its first crown since 1997.
The game started off like a heavyweight bout, with the Panthers landing several blows early while running out to a 12-0 lead, buoyed by a large boisterous crowd on one side of the gym.
However, the Maroons absorbed those blows and then delivered a shot of their own — a 13-0 run to take the lead.
The teams were knotted 20-20 after one quarter, but Madisonville edged ahead 39-35 at halftime.
Madisonville (15-12) threatened to open up things when it built an eight-point margin in the third quarter.
But Dawson (17-15) rallied back to within 54-50 through three quarters.
The Panthers then came all the way back, taking a 57-56 lead briefly on a basket by Rex Blue in the fourth quarter. However, Madisonville answered quickly on a bucket inside from Ryan Bryant to get the lead back with 4:01 left in the contest.
Down 60-57, Jaydon Plunkette drew Dawson even with 2:41 to go with a 3 from the left side.
Madisonville’s defense was stout the rest of the way though.
Landen Smith put the Maroons back up a point when he made one of two free throws with 1:37 remaining.
The Panthers misfired on a 3-pointer at the other end and couldn’t get a follow attempt to go down. A mad scramble ensued on the rebound, with Kanyon Johnson coming out the pack with the ball and beating everyone down the floor for a dunk that made it 63-60 with 1:06 left.
Dawson made just one free throw the rest of the way while Madisonville made enough shots at the charity stripe to put the game away.
Johnson finished off the district championship in style for the Maroons with a 360 dunk in the closing seconds as Madisonville took its largest lead of the night, nine points, with the final score.
Johnson led all scorers in the game with 21 points for the Maroons. Landen Smith added 17 and Peyton Smith had 16.
Montgomery Johnston had 20 points for the Panthers, including his 2,000th career point on a free throw late in the third quarter.
Plunkette added six 3-pointers for 18 points. Deacon Dever and Blue each had nine points.
The Maroons and Panthers had split their two meetings during the regular season.
Both teams advance to the 2nd Region tournament next week. Madisonville will host the regional tourney.
Dawson Springs 20 15 15 11 — 61
Madisonville-NH 20 19 15 16 — 70
Dawson Springs (17-15)—Johnston 20, Plunkette 18, Dever 9, Blue 9, Bourland 6.
Madisonville-North Hopkins (15-12)—Johnson 21, L. Smith 17, P. Smith 16, Bryant 8, Cheirs 6, T. Smith 2.
