You knew down deep inside, it just had to come down to this. Hopkinsville against Christian County one more time in Tiger Gym with the 8th District championship on the line. The Colonels did their part Tuesday night with a big start, holding off a UHA rally, and then a devastating blitz to close out the game in a 75-48 win over University Heights in the district semifinals.
A bumpy start for the Colonels as the game started. Christian County had three turnovers in the first 90 seconds of the game as UHA got out to a quick 5-0 lead on baskets from Hayden Hunt and Keshawn Moore.
The Colonels then got settled in and started chipping away. With the UHA lead at 7-4, Christian County unleashed a 10-0 run that put the Colonels in front 14-7. One of the Blazers’ concerns coming into the game would be how to contain Rahsean Stevenson and Stevenson’s play down in the paint was a big part in getting Christian County to the lead.
Another problem the Blazers in the first was foul trouble. Hayden Hunt picked up his second foul of the game with 4:51 to go in the quarter. Just over two minutes later, Keshawn Moore picked up his second.
Still, the Blazers made a run to close out the opening quarter, scoring the final six points, including a three from Nash McAfee that stopped the Christian County run, and UHA trailed only 14-13 after the first quarter.
The teams traded the lead back-and-forth to start the second before the moment that changed the entire flow of the game. The game was tied at 17-17 when UHA’s Keshawn Moore was whistled for his third foul with 5:52 and Coach Jordan Grace took him out of the game. Moore’s absence lasted less than thirty seconds. Two quick baskets from the Colonels made it 21-17 and the Blazers were struggling mightily to get the ball to front court. Grace made the easy decision at that point that keeping Moore from picking up a fourth foul was going to be meaningless if the game got away from the Blazers.
But Moore’s re-entry could not slow down the momentum the Colonels had built in just that 30 second stretch. Christian County went on to complete a 17-2 run that put the Colonels on top 34-19 late in the half. The lead was 41-25 when the teams left the court at the half.
Turnovers for UHA and the Christian County outside shooting told the story of the second. The Blazers were charged with 8 miscues in the quarter, and several directly led to points at the other end of the floor.
And then, there is the Christian County outside shooting. If the Colonels shoot like they did in the second quarter, they are not gonna be much fun to play against the rest of the way. Christian County buried five threes in the quarter and seven for the half as they built the big lead. Jay Henderson had three from deep and Darren Bigbee had two.
Turnovers were a problem for the Blazers in the half as UHA coughed the ball up 12 times in the half. Christian County was also dominant on the boards over the first 16 minutes.
The Blazer defense did a better job slowing the Christian County offense down coming out at the beginning of the third. Problem was that UHA could not find the basket either. Just over three minutes into the quarter, UHA had 3 free throws and the Colonels had just one basket.
Then another big momentum, not in favor of the Blazers, as Moore picked up his fourth foul with just under five minutes to go in the third. The difference was, this time Christian County did not immediately go on a big run like it had in the second quarter when Moore exited the game.
The Blazers capped off 13-0 run with a 3-pointer from Nash McAfee and pulled within 43-38 and the Blazer fans were roaring.
But Josh Bridges, who did not join the team until mid-season after returning from Murray High School, countered with a three to push the lead back out to 46-38 and that appeared to give the Colonels the spark for the one last push they needed to lock up the win to keep their season and their program alive for a bit longer. The Bridges three started a 10-1 run to finish the quarter, giving Christian County a 53-39 lead and putting the Colonels just 8 minutes away from a championship battle against their long-time rivals.
Christian County’s Darren Bigbee then single-handedly drove the final nails into the UHA season at the beginning of the final quarter. Bigbee scored 8 points in the first 2 ½ minutes of the fourth quarter as Christian County pulled away to a 63-40 lead.
The Blazers, who fought so hard to get back into the game in the third quarter, appeared to have emptied their gas tanks to get to that point. The Colonels’ defense began to turn the Blazers over and convert with runouts at the other end. Christian County outscored UHA 14-1 in the first four minutes of the final quarter to go out 67-40. From there, the Colonels cruised on out to the final 27-point margin.
Josh Bridges had a big second half and finished with 16 points to lead Christian County. Jay Henderson added 15 points, all in the first half. Darren Bigbee also hit double figures with 14 points, 8 of which came in the final quarter. He added 7 rebounds to his totals. Zyon Wharton ended up with 8 points and 6 rebounds.
Keshawn Moore was the only Blazer to hit double figures with 15 points. Christian County was able to shut him out over the final 8 minutes of the game. Nash McAfee hit two threes and had 7 points. Hayden Hunt wrapped up his only season of UHA basketball with 6 points and 5 rebounds.
UHA closes out the season with a record of 7-17.
Christian County improves to 13-12 and moves into Friday night’s district championship game against Hopkinsville, in what is likely to be the final meeting between the two programs in the final game in Tiger gym ahead of this summer’s consolidation of the two schools.
