After a cool start to the game, the Christian County Colonels cranked up the heat on their defense and nearly pulled off a big comeback in the Toyota of Hopkinsville Holiday Classic. Christian County rallied from down by as many as 17 points and got as close as four, but ended up seeing its two-game winning streak come to an end Saturday afternoon as the Colonels dropped a 66-62 decision to former Hopkinsville coach Larry Miller and his Evangel Eagles.
The win ended a two-game losing streak for Evangel.
Evangel Christian dialed it in from long range coming out of the gate. The Eagles hit three from behind the arc early on as they ran out to a 17-3 lead. While Evangel was knocking shots down from deep, the Colonels were having trouble getting shots to fall from anywhere.
Christian County’s offense did start to find some kind of rhythm late in the first quarter and got a few shots to fall as the Colonels rallied to trim the lead to 21-11.
Getting a spark from Jayovontae Henderson and Zion Acree, Christian County kicked off the second quarter with a quick 6-2 spurt that brought the Colonels to within 23-17.
Evangel came right back with an 8-0 run that featured three-pointers from Tyson Darko and Christian Norris as the Eagle pushed the lead out to 31-17.
Christian County would get as close as 10 on a couple of occasions over the final minutes of the half but it would be Evangel still holding a 13-point lead as the two teams left the court at halftime.
One of the big differences in the first half was the outside shooting. Evangel hit five shots from behind the 3-point line while the Colonels connected just once from deep. The Eagles also won the battle of the boards in the first half 16 to 10.
Christian Norris led the Eagles with 9 points in the half, all coming on three-point shots. Zion Acree had 7 to lead Christian County at the break.
The two teams came out of the break and played even for much of the third quarter. Evangel extended the lead to as many as 16 points on three occasions before Christian County cut the margin to 11 points heading into the final quarter.
Starting the 4th quarter, the Colonels turned the defense up to ‘pressure cooker’ and it began to pay off. Getting a couple of turnovers and five quick points from Stafford Winston, including a three out of the right corner, Christian County chopped the lead to 53-46 with just over six minutes to go, prompting a timeout from Evangel coach Larry Miller.
Whatever Miller said to his team in the timeout, he might want to package up and save to use again sometime. The Eagles came out of the timeout with five quick points to extend the lead back out to double figures at 58-46.
Christian County made one last push to get back in the game with Zion Acree and Jayovontae Henderson making some big plays down in the lane, the Colonels got back to within 60-53 with 1:39 to go in the game. After a pair of missed free throws, Stafford Winston banked one in in the lane to make it 60-55 with 49.3 seconds left.
The Eagles made a pair of free throws, and then Winston hit a bucket just inside the line to make it 62-57 with 17.2 seconds left but the Colonels would end up simply running out of time. Zion Acree hit a three just ahead of the buzzer to get to the final 66-62 score.
Acree led the Colonels with 17 points and 4 rebounds. Jayovontae Henderson also hit double figures with 12 points and pulled down 5 boards. Stafford Winston came off the bench to score 9 points, all in the final quarter. Evangel did a good job containing Rahsean Stevenson down in the lane, holding him to six points and six rebounds.
Golden Dotson led four Eagles in double figures with 15 points. Tyson Darko added 14 points. Myles Johnson chipped in with 11 points and 8 rebounds.
Christian County (2-2) will be back in action Tuesday evening when the Colonels host Bowling Green in Lyle Dunbar Gym.
