The Hopkins County Central Storm went into their matchup with Logan County at the St. Mary Christmas Classic looking for their fifth win in a row. They were unfortunately not able to get that, as the Cougars were able to best them 72-61 in a hard-fought game.
Hopkins Central’s Samari Pettus was able to score the team’s first seven points to start the first quarter. Then a Blaze Sumner layup with three minutes left put the Storm up 9-8 at a timeout.
But after a bit more back and forth to 13-10, Logan County’s JB McTire put in five straight points, and Jeramiah Washington put in a three as time expired to put the Cougars up 18-13 at the end of there first period.
The second quarter started the same as the first ended for Logan, that being with a three. But this time, Central’s Peyton Smith came right back with a deep bomb of his own.
But he was not done, as he made a second shot from beyond the arc, leading the Storm to fight all the way back to tie the game at 23 apiece.
Every time it seemed like Hopkins Central was going to build up a lead, the Cougars would score a couple baskets to keep it close. And that was the theme of the rest of the quarter, and it gave Logan County a three point lead going into the halftime break.
The Storm did not start the third quarter how they would have wanted, as they made some mistakes that forced them to call a timeout as the Logan County lead grew to eight. The Cougars kept going, and an and-one put them up 56-43 heading into the final quarter.
A handful of buckets from Central’s Devante Jagoe and another three from Smith cut the Cougar lead to five, but some more turnovers and Logan County being able to convert off of them sealed the loss for the Storm at 72-61.
This is the fifth straight loss that Hopkins Central has suffered at the hands of the Cougars, and their last win was back in January of 2013. The Storm are now 5-6 all-time against Logan County.
The team still had some solid performers, with Jagoe leading the team in scoring with 17, nine of those points coming in the fourth. Pettus, Smith, and Davonyae Butcher also each contributed 11 points of their own.
The Storm will be looking to get back on track in their next game on Monday, December 29, against Portland. The game will be played at Franklin-Simpson, and is scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m.
