The Adair County Indians were able to overcome an early deficit to win by double digits in the first round of the 5th region tournament on Thursday. The Indians took down the Central Hardin Bruins by a score of 64-52.
“We played a great defensive game,” says head coach Deron Breeze. “I’ve been saying it all year, we have to keep the score low in order to give ourselves the best chance to win in the postseason.”
The Bruins had a great game plan that revolved around a stingy 2-3-matchup zone defense. The Bruins outrebounded the Indians in the first half, but the Tribe ended up outrebounding Central Hardin by double digits in the second half. Once the Indians started to hit a few jump shots, the Bruin defense had to speed up the game. The ACHS bench made an excellent adjustment coming out of halftime by running the “four corners” offense; an offense dedicated to spreading the floor, holding the ball, and forcing zone defenses to play man-to-man concepts.
“We wanted to slow the game down and make them come out and guard us,” says Breeze. “That was something we talked about in our preparation.”
Overall, the Indians were locked in on every single play on each end of the floor, leading to one of their best team performances of the season.
Zion Harmon led the team in scoring with 26 points, six assists, two steals, and two rebounds. Dre Boyd finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds while shooting seven of eight from the field; Boyd had two very nice two-handed dunks as well. Senior Hunter Cundiff brought energy and toughness, just like he always does, to finish with 15 points and seven rebounds. The Bruins did their best to shut down Corey Melton offensively, but Melton contributed in a big way defensively and by rebounding; Melton finished with three points, a team-high 11 rebounds, with one steal and one assist. Blane Frazier played great defense and hit his only shot, a three pointer from the left wing. Frazier also added two steals and two rebounds to the stat sheet. Late in the game, Byron Corbin came in and sunk two key throws to help secure the double-digit win for the Tribe.
“We were happy to get the win and now we have to start working on our game plan for LaRue,” says Breeze.
The Indians will play LaRue County in the second round of the regional tournament Monday night at Marion County High School at 7:45 CT. Be sure to come out and support your Indians as they look to return to the region championship for the second consecutive season.
By Adam Capps
Assistant Editor
A large crowd came out to watch the Indians take down the Central Hardin Bruins in the first round of the 5th region tournament held at Marion County High School.
Zion Harmon fires a no-look pass to Dre Boyd who finished the play with a nice two handed slam at the rim.
