Although opportunities presented themselves, Magoffin County could never completely overcome a third quarter Paintsville run and was eliminated from 57th District Tournament play Monday night.
Although opportunities presented themselves, Magoffin County could never completely overcome a third quarter Paintsville run and was eliminated from 57th District Tournament play Monday night.
With the Hornets and the Tigers in the midst of a first half battle of the closest kind, Paintsville used Josh Green and Timmy Sublett to score the first 10 points of the third period and ease on to a 62-53 victory in the tournament’s first boys’ affair at Lawrence County.
Green scored five of his game high 17 points and Sublett, who finished with six, hit for three points as the Tigers opened up a 38-26 advantage mid way through the third period.
The Hornets, though, did not go quietly. In fact, Magoffin County rallied to cut the deficit to under double figures as Joe Hall scored all of his four points in the final 3:49 of the third, helping the Hornets head into the final frame trailing 41-32.
The rally continued in the fourth quarter when a variety of Magoffin County players involved themselves in a brief but impressive effort.
A basket from Casey Adams, who led the Hornets with 15 points, to start the final frame was followed by Zach Harvey and Caleb Hall scores and when Nathan Howard, finishing with eight points, nailed a three pointer Magoffin County trailed 45-41 with 5:15 remaining.
The Hornets, ending their season at 5-22, got to within three when Adams sank the back end of a two-shot free throw trip with 4:07 left.
But Paintsville, who advanced to play regular season district champ Lawrence County Tuesday, hit 13 of 19 free throws over the final four minutes to eventually seal the victory.
Junior guard Cody Sparks scored 10 points for the Hornets, who lost their final nine games. One of Magoffin County’s five regular season wins came against Paintsville.
Hall added six points to the Hornet effort while Harvey finished with four. Nathaniel Tate scored four points while John David Kazee and Austin Whitaker rounded out Hornet scoring with two and one point respectively.
Paintsville, improving to 7-19, got 14 points from freshman Trevor Tiller, eight of which came in the fourth quarter.
Magoffin County trailed by four after the first quarter but used a big second quarter run to take a 25-21 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the first half when Hall scored on a driving lay up.
The Tigers, down by one with a minute left, got a three pointer from freshman Matt Daniels and went into the halftime break leading 28-26.
That was the start of a 13-point Paintsville run. The Tigers never lost the lead from that point on.
