Several days of snow and no school right before the district tournament isn’t the best timing for basketball teams and their coaches.
Dawson Springs head coach Mickey Blue felt that Friday night as the Panthers fell into an early hole and could never dig out in a 79-69 loss to Logan County at the Panther Pit.
Logan County began the game with a pair of 3-pointers and never trailed in the contest.
A 17-11 Logan lead ballooned to 25-16 after one quarter and 43-18 midway through the second quarter.
Samson Hightower buried a shot ahead of the first quarter horn and scored 19 of his 30 points in the first half.
The Panthers ended the first half on a 14-2 run sparked by 3-pointers by Rex Blue, Montgomery Johnston, and Jayden Plunkette.
Baskets by Deacon Dever and Easton Bourland to start the second half got the Panthers to within 45-36.
However, Logan County pushed the lead back to 54-38 on a 3-pointer by Nicholas Thomas – one of his five treys in the contest.
Dawson Springs would make one final push, twice cutting the deficit to nine points in the fourth quarter – the last with 1:03 left on a 3-pointer by Plunkette.
Logan County hit seven of its eight 3-pointers in the first half in building its lead. Nicholas Blann scored 11 of his 21 points in the second half as the Cougars held off the Panther challenge.
Johnston paced four Panthers in double figures with 23 points. Plunkette hit five 3-pointers to finish with 15 points.
The 69 points are the second-fewest scored by the Panthers at home this season and continues an offensive slide that has seen them lose five of their last six games.
Dawson Springs will get one more game ahead of next week’s district tournament when they host St. Mary on Saturday morning at 11:00.
Logan County enters the postseason winners of eight of nine games and 11 of 13.
The Cougars are the top seed in the 13th District Tournament and will play Todd County Central on Monday at Franklin-Simpson High School.
Logan County 25 20 17 17– 79
Dawson Springs 16 16 19 18– 69
Logan County (18-10) – Hightower 30, Blann 21, Thomas 17, Switzer 4, Johnson 4, Hinton 3
Dawson Springs (15-14) – Johnston 23, Plunkette 15, Blue 13, Bourland 10, Dever 8
