A long and historic rivalry between Hopkinsville and Christian County came to an end on Friday night, as the two teams played their final regular season game ever against one another.
Both teams obviously wanted to win the last matchup for bragging rights, but it was the Tigers who were able to take advantage of their home floor and get the close 62-58 win.
The two teams started out the game neck and neck with County’s Tom Johnson and Hopkinsville’s James Bradley Jr. trading three to each give their teams seven points. Jayven Battle then hit a three shortly after to take the lead and spark a 7-0 run for the Tigers in the final minutes of the first quarter.
Rahsean Stevenson was able to make a couple close shots to tie the game at 14, but another deep bomb from Battle gave Hoptown a 17-14 lead going into the second.
A very quick 6-2 run to start the next period for the Tigers caused County Head Coach Dior Curtis to call a very early timeout. And that break and pep talk seemed to work.
The Colonels cut the lead to just two with a Jay Henderson three-pointer, but Hopkinsville went on yet another run to combat that and go up 36-27 heading into the locker room.
Christian County came out of the halftime break with some fire, outscoring the Tigers 9-3 in the first half of the quarter, cutting the lead to three.
The lead stayed at or around that for most of the period, but County’s Stafford Winston got a steal and scored a fastbreak layup to make it a one point game going into the fourth and final quarter.
After a bucket by Hoptown, another Henderson three tied the game at 46, and it was insanity after that. There were several ties, and even more lead changes, but a couple of buckets from the Tigers’ Layton Giltner gave his team a two point lead with just over 40 second left.
The Colonels ran down the clock until there were just about 11 second left on the clock, but Hopkinsville was able to get their hands on the ball and force the high turnover. After that, some Giltner free throws sealed the deal and gave the Tigers the win in their final regular season game against the Colonels.
Hopkinsville won three of the last four matchups with Christian County, so they can have a bit of bragging rights until the two schools combine to start next school year.
The Colonels’ leading scorer was Stevenson with 25 points, who was able to get to the rim seemingly at will. Henderson also got into double-digits with 13, eight of which came in the second half.
Battle led the way for the Tigers with 15 points, and he was able to make three shots from beyond the arc. Bradley Jr. and Giltner were both able to contribute 13 of their own, and Jonovan Leavell scored 10 as well.
They will be looking for their third win in a row in their next game on Tuesday, January 27, against Union County. Weather permitting, they will play their game at 7:30 p.m. at Hopkinsville High School.
As for the Colonels, they will be looking to right the ship against the Falcons of Fort Campbell on Monday, January 26. If the weather allows, their game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. at Christian County High School.
