A late 3-point barrage allowed Florida Coastal Prep to survive a late-game charge from the Lyon County Lyons as the Spartans took a 60-56 win in the final game of Friday night’s session at the Toyota of Hopkinsville Holiday Classic.
The game, which ended the Lyons’ three game winning streak to open the season, was a grind it out, physical contest, which had its share of intense moments on the court and off.
The Lyons came out of the gate fast against the team from Fort Walton, taking advantage of Spartan turnovers and scoring the first six points of the night to take the early 6-0 lead. The rest of the quarter ended up being tough, hard-nosed action.
Both teams had their trapping defenses ratcheted up, and both teams ended up having ball security issues for the first eight minutes of the game. Led by the efforts of Bray Kirk and Carson Collins, the Lyons held an 11-5 lead after the first.
Nolan Coffman started to get things going in the second quarter as the Lyons moved the lead out to double digits at 17-7. However, Florida Coastal Prep had no intention of making things easy for the guys from Eddyville.
With their 6-7 big man Tatiano Muambu causing issues for the Lyons down in the paint, the Spartans began to work their way back into the game. A 20-8 run gave Florida Coastal Prep its first lead of the night late in the first half at 27-25.
Lyon County was able to even things up heading into the break as Bray Kirk knocked down a 10-footer from the right baseline just ahead of the horn to make it 27-27.
Kirk led the Lyons at the break with 9 points. Nolan Coffman added 6 points and 7 rebounds.
Muambu led the Spartans with 9 points and 8 boards. He got some big help down inside from 6-3 Canadian Emeka Ikeazor, who had 6 points and 6 rebounds.
After a combined 16 turnovers in the opening quarter, both teams did much better with ball security in the second quarter, and each team went to the half with 9 turnovers.
Coming out of the break, the Lyons lost their shooting eye to open the third quarter, and that allowed the Spartans to grab the lead and the momentum. Florida Coastal Prep held Lyon County to just a pair of free throws for a chunk of the third quarter as part of a 13-2 run as the Spartans took a 40-29 lead.
With big man Isaac Defew leading the way, Lyon County got on a run of its own and battled back to within 40-36 late in the quarter. But a couple of turnovers gave the Spartans a chance to finish the third with a quick five points to take a 45-36 lead into the final eight minutes. Defew’s effort in the quarter kept the Lyons within eyesight of Florida Coastal Prep.
Part of the problem for the Lyons in the third was not turning the Spartans over. When Lyon County took the ten point lead in the first half, they had been forcing miscues from Florida Coastal and then converting those into scoring chances at the other end. During the third quarter, the Lyons forced only two turnovers, not allowing them many runout opportunities.
But as basketball fans in this area have seen several times over the last few seasons, the Lyons are always capable of making a run, and that is just exactly how the final quarter started.
Lyon County, getting a spark from Bray Kirk, Nolan Coffman, and Carson Collins, opened the final quarter by hitting Florida Coastal with an 11-2 blitz and pulled even at 47-47. Just as it appeared the Lyons had firmly grasped the momentum to finish out the game, it got away from them.
Back-to-back-to-back threes from Maziri Bakri, Clay Crosman, and Mickies Johnson turned the tie game into a 56-47 Spartan lead and blew up all the hard work the Lyons had put into getting back in the game.
Lyon County would get no closer than five points the rest of the way as the Spartans took the four-point win.
Bray Kirk was one of four Lyons in double figures with 17 points. He also had 6 rebounds. Nolan Coffman finished with a double-double of 15 points and 13 rebounds. Isaac Defew chipped in with 12 points while Carson Collins had 10.
Maziri Bakri led the Spartans with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Emeka Ikeazor had 13 points and 8 rebounds. Tatiano Muambu and Clay Crosman ended up with 11 points each.
Lyon County (3-1) gets back to action Tuesday night on the road for a 5th District contest at Crittenden County.
One additional note, while the Lyons will play the Hopkinsville Tigers coming up, that game will be in Eddyville. The game Friday night marked the Lyons final appearance in Hopkinsville’s Tiger Gym, the place where the Lyons won 2 of their 3 consecutive regional titles, including the one that springboarded them to the 2024 state championship.
