The University Heights Academy Blazers put an end to their four-game losing skid Saturday night to wrap up the next to last week of the regular season. UHA got 35 points from Keshawn Moore and pulled away late to take a 72-57 win over the homesteading Todd County Central Rebels.
The Rebels came out hot from behind the three point line and got the jump on the Blazers early, taking a 12-7 lead. UHA battled back behind the play of former Rebel Keshawn Moore and scored six unanswered to go up 13-12.
The Rebels fought back, with some key plays from John Ross Cardwell and Jayden Carrington, and went back in front by as many as four before taking a 20-18 lead after the opening quarter. Cardwell hit two threes and finished with 10 points in the quarter.
After tweaking his ankle during the first quarter, the Blazers’ Hayden Hunt took over the game down inside and the other bad news for the Rebels was that shots that fell in the first quarter stopped falling in the second.
Hunt started crashing the board and owning the glass and that allowed the Blazers to get their offense running off the defensive end and to start racking up some second chance points down in the paint on the offensive end.
After a three from Todd Central to start the second quarter made it 23-18, UHA staggered the Rebels with an 11-0 run to grab a 29-23 lead. Late in the half, the Blazers unloaded a 9-1 blitz on the Rebels and took a 42-30 lead into the break.
Keshawn Moore had a monster offensive first half, scoring 20 points to lead the Blazers. Hayden Hunt added 6 points but was even bigger on the boards, pulling down 12 rebounds. UHA also got a spark from Tabor Vincent with 9 points on three made 3-pointers.
John Ross Cardwell and Connor Holder had 10 points each at the break to help keep the Rebels within shouting distance of UHA. Todd County Central also made six 3-pointers over the first sixteen minutes of the contest.
The Blazers came out and extended the lead to 18 points at 53-35 and it looked like things were about to get away from the Rebels. Not quite. All of a sudden it was boom, boom, boom. Three-pointers from Holder, Jayden Glass, and Holder again, and in a matter of seconds the lead was down to 53-44.
A basket from Glass and another three from Holder, who hit four in the third quarter, and Todd County Central was within 55-49. A runner in the lane just ahead of the horn from Keshawn Moore stemmed the tide for a moment as the Blazers took a 57-49 lead into the fourth.
The basket by Moore may have been just the momentum shot that UHA needed. The Blazers opened the fourth with a 7-2 spurt to run the lead back out to 64-51. Moore had two buckets during the run and Tabor Vincent hit his fourth three of the game. UHA then blew it wide open with an 8-0 run that put the Blazers up 72-54 in the final minutes of the game.
In addition to Moore’s 35 points, UHA got 14 points, including four made threes from Tabor Vincent. Hayden Hunt finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Jaiden Miles added 8 points and 12 rebounds.
Connor Holder connected on seven three-pointers and ended up with 24 points. John Ross Cardwell knocked down three shots from behind the arc and had 13 points and 7 rebounds. Jayden Glass added 11 points and 5 rebounds. The Rebels had 12 threes for the game.
University Heights improves to 7-14 for the season and will return home to open the final week of the regular season Tuesday when the Blazers host Paducah Tilghman.
Todd County Central falls to 7-20 for the year. The Rebels will go on the road Monday to face the Dawson Springs Panthers.
