Coach Deron Breeze and the Indians are 5th Region bound for the first time since 2018 with a 49-26 win over Campbellsville on Wednesday night. Adair County scored the first basket of the game and never trailed during the win in a low scoring contest where the Indians knew the game plan and had to adjust to the slow pace.
“We executed our plan well,” Coach Breeze said. “We felt we could get some second chance points on our offensive rebounds and felt like on defense they score a lot off of cutting, so we tried to eliminate those and make them score one on one. We did well at both of those.”
Adair County jumped out to a 12 to 2 lead over halfway through the first quarter and continued to hold Campbellsville in check to own a 16-6 lead after the opening quarter of play. Connor Loy scored six points during the quarter while Brayton Coomer added four, and Carter White, Camden Burton, and Lane Grant each had a basket.
The Eagles began the second quarter with a seven to two run as they tried to chip into the Indians lead but Adair County pushed the lead back out to nine points with two minutes remaining in the half at 27-18. They continued to hold the lead with some good defense and taking care of the ball, which helped lead at half 30-20.
Both teams shot the ball very well in the first half as it seemed like both were waiting for the easy basket at the rim, which they got often. Ball control, limiting turnovers, and knocking down shots was the difference for the Indians that gave them the small lead early on.
In the third quarter the pace of the game continued to be very slow with only nine total points being scored. Adair County managed to hold the Eagles to two points while scoring only seven points themselves, but that was good enough to be leading 37-22 heading into the fourth quarter with a trip to the championship game on the line.
The Indians continued to do what was necessary to hold off Campbellsville in the final quarter to build a 45-24 lead around the midway point. This margin allowed for Coach Breeze to empty his bench and get the younger guys some quality postseason experience. In the end, Adair County won 49-26 and earned a trip back to the 20th District championship game for their first time since that 2018 district tournament win.
There were two Indians in double figures for the game led by White with 12 points and Loy’s 11 points. Coomer finished the game with eight, Grant had five, Burton four, Blaine Bardin three, and Dawson Gilbert, JB Piatt, and Jordan Grider each had two.
The Indians will face a tough Taylor County team on Saturday night that has beaten them in both matchup this season. The Cardinals won the first game of the season by a big margin of 28 points back in December but in their most recent matchup last month, the Indians handled them back and lost by seven.
“Saturday will be a tough one to win, Coach Breeze said. “They blew us out in the first game; we made some adjustments to what we felt like we could win the second game and after leading the majority of the way, we didn’t finish some opportunities and they beat us. They probably found some success for them in that quarter against us so we will have to counter that before Saturday.”
The championship game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. central time tip on Saturday at the Roby Dome in Marion County.
By Josh Withers
