LEBANON, Ky. – The Adair County High School boys’ basketball team closed out the second quarter with an impressive 18-1 run and then withstood a rally by a stubborn Caverna High School squad in the third quarter for a 56-49 win in the 5th Region Tournament semifinal game, played Monday at Marion County High School’s Roby Dome.
Adair County, who improves to 29-5 on the season, will play North Hardin High School (21-9) at 6 p.m. CT Tuesday at Marion County High School for a chance to earn the program’s seventh berth in the UK Healthcare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16, to be played March 26-29 at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in Lexington.
North Hardin beat Green County High School (24-4) 63-60 in overtime.
Caverna, who lost 63-48 to Adair County on Feb. 18 at home, finishes the season 17-13.
“It’s great to get there,” said Adair County coach Deron Breeze. “Caverna is good. We did a good job of stifling them in the first half.”
Down 19-13 early in the second quarter, Adair County started a run when senior forward Lane Grant hit two free throws to pull the Indians to 19-15 with 6:20 left on the clock.
That was followed less than a minute later by a layup by senior forward Brayton Coomer, which shaved the Colonels’ lead to 19-17.
Then senior guard Loy Connor went to work. Adair County’s all-time leading scorer swished a pair of free throws, recorded a three-point play and then nailed a three-point shot from the volleyball line to give the Indians a 25-19 lead with 2:26 left in the quarter.
Caverna called a time out following Dawson Gilbert’s third three-pointer 21 seconds later. But the Colonels scored only one more point the rest of the half – Caverna missed their final dozen shots of the half – while Adair County added three more points to take a 31-20 halftime lead.
In the third quarter, however, it was the Indians who had trouble scoring at first. Caverna opened the second half with a 6-0 run before Loy stopped the bleeding with another three-point play. The Colonels pulled to within three points when junior guard and leading scorer Jaylin Craine banked in a layup to pull Caverna to 38-35 with 1:11 left in the third quarter.
But Adair County’s offense shifted into a deliberate mode, remaining calm, taking care of the ball and working the clock for high-percentage shots for the rest of the game.
“We’ve got to do a little bit better there in the third quarter, but we did what we had to do to get the win,” said Breeze. “Every time we needed a stop, we got one.”
For the game, Loy led all scorers with 23 points. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out 10 assists for a triple-double. Coomer was the only other Indian to finish in double figures with 12 points.
Craine’s 19 points led the Colonels, and junior forwards Kenyon Martin and Cortavian Maxey each had 10 points.
