Henderson Ends 26 Year Drought by Defending Its Way to Region Title

One way or the other, there was going to be a storyline coming out of the boys’ 2nd Region championship game Tuesday night, whether it was Henderson County or Madisonville-North Hopkins that cut down the nets when all was said and done.

The last time the Maroons had won a regional championship, they had a team that many thought could contend for the state championship. But that was March of 2020, and the country shut down two days after Madisonville won the title, their second of two straight, and they never got the chance to play for the title. The Maroons also reached the final in 2021 but lost a heartbreaker on their home floor to University Heights Academy.

For Henderson County, the last title came in 1999. That year the Colonels survived a double-overtime game in the regional quarterfinals against Caldwell County, beat Madisonville by three in the semis, and then went on to claim the title by running past Christian County. That team went on to reach the semifinals of the Sweet 16 with a pair of two-point wins over Highlands and Muhlenberg North before falling by one point to Louisville Ballard.

On this championship night, it was the Colonels that used their defense to make a little history as Henderson County put the ‘squeeze’ on the Maroons and defended their way to a regional championship with a 52-34 win, sending them to their first state tournament appearance in 26 years.

Xavion Johnson got Henderson County on the board first with a reverse along the baseline to make it 2-0. And then the defensive battle, and it was a battle early in the game, was on. Madisonville turned the ball over on its first two possessions of the night against the Henderson County pressure defense and did not get a shot until 2 ½ minutes were gone in the opening quarter.

But, thanks to their defense, the Maroons did not let Henderson County get too far out of sight in the early going. The Colonels went on to score the first seven points of the game before the Maroons finally broke through on a bucket by Trashaun Smith with 3:25 to go in the first quarter.

The Maroons struggled with ball security in the opening quarter, but their interior defense on the other end of the court helped to counter the ballhandling miscues as Madisonville-North Hopkins had three blocked shots in the quarter.

A three-pointer from Dwaine Moss gave Henderson County its biggest lead of the first at 10-2.

The Maroons finished the first quarter with a quick five-point rally from Landen Smith and Ryan Bryant to make it 10-7 going into the second quarter of play.

The officials were letting them play and get after it during the first eight minutes as there were no fouls called on either team in the quarter, which meant the quarter went by in a blink. In fact, the officials called only two fouls in the entire first half, the first one not coming until 3:10 to go in the half. Each team had one foul at the break.

Henderson County opened the second quarter as if they were about ready to book their trip to Lexington. The Colonels got seven quick points from Cooper Davenport and Xavion Johnson to run the lead out to 17-7 and it looked as if the Maroons might be teetering on the brink. But those would be the only points the Colonels would score for the entire quarter.

The Maroons, driven by their defense, started chipping away slowly at the ten-point lead. Kanyon Johnson, Davin Cheirs, and Trashaun Smith combined to score 7 straight and cut the lead back to three points at 17-14 going into the half. The Madisonville defense did not allow Henderson County a point over the final 6:06 of the half.

Henderson County’s defense was focused on keeping the ball out of the hands of Kanyon Johnson and Landen Smith in the first 16 minutes and did just that, allowing the duo to score just 5 points combined.

On the other side, the Maroons shut down the inside game of Lacon McKinney and Elijah Suggs for the Colonels, allowing that pair just two points in the first sixteen minutes.

As the two teams came out for the start of the second half, there was no letup whatsoever in the intensity and the defensive pressure on either end. Elijah Suggs broke the second half ice with a post-up score down low with 6:10 to go in the third. Ryan Bryant returned the favor at the other end and the game was back to three points at 19-16.

The first free throws of the night came with 5:20 to go in the third as Henderson’s Cooper Davenport was fouled on a jumper in the lane. He made both to push the lead out to 21-16. Ryan Bryant again responded to cut the lead to 21-18.

A basket by Elijah Suggs and then a steal and layup from Cooper Davenport gave the Colonels some momentum and a 25-18 lead with under four to go in the third. On defense, Henderson continued to lockdown on Kanyon Johnson and Landen Smith, giving the pair very little opportunity to get a look at a good shot. That led to the Maroon offense getting stagnant, and Henderson County took advantage.

Baskets from Davenport and Lacon McKinney gave Henderson its biggest lead to that point at 29-18 with 1:55 to go in the third and left the Maroons in dire need of a bucket. Ryan Bryant drained a three from the right side to make it 29-21 but that would be it for the scoring in the quarter as Henderson took an 8-point lead into the final eight minutes.

Bryant scored all 7 points in the quarter for the Maroons and it was the third straight quarter where the Maroons put up just seven points on the board.

The Colonels opened the final quarter with a furious 6-0 run that included a thunderous dunk from Elijah Suggs to run the lead out to 35-21. Madisonville finally stopped the run with a basket from Trashaun Smith with 6:15 to go in the game, trimming the lead to 35-23. Out of a timeout, Kanyon Johnson scored to cut the lead to 10 at 35-25.

But 10 points would be as close as the Maroons could get. As Madisonville had to start fouling to try and stretch the game out, Henderson County hit 13 of 16 at the line in the final quarter, and with 1:30 to go in the game the cheers of “Rupp Arena, Rupp, Rupp Arena” broke out in the Henderson County student section and the celebration was on.

Ultimately, it would be the Maroons not being able to get looks at the basket the whole game but especially down the stretch that would be their undoing, as the Henderson defense simply refused to bend all night long and suffocated out the Madisonville hopes of returning to Rupp Arena.

Henderson County had two players in double figures led by Cooper Davenport with 14 points. Xavion Johnson added 13 points, including going 7 of 10 at the line in the fourth quarter. Dwaine Moss just missed a double-figure night with 9 points. Elijah Suggs had 8 points, all in the second half.

Ryan Bryant was the leading scorer for Madisonville-North Hopkins with 9 points. In his final game, Kanyon Johnson scored 8 points for the Maroons. Trashaun Smith also had 8 points. After lighting it up for 36 points in the semifinals, the Henderson County defense did the job it had to on Landen Smith, holding the Maroon sharpshooter to just 3 points on a first quarter 3-pointer.

Henderson County improves to 25-6 with the win and advances to next week’s Boys’ Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena. The Colonels will take on the 9th Region champion Cooper. The Jaguars advanced with a 53-38 win over Lloyd Memorial.

Madisonville-North Hopkins sees its season come to an end with a record of 17-13.