In a game that felt like a possible regional tournament preview, the Christian County Colonels outlasted the Madisonville Maroons Tuesday night 82-66. In front of a loud, if not full house, the game was a battle between two teams with deep postseason aspirations.
The Colonels jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead. However, the Maroons battled back for much of the first quarter, and pulled within one at 17-16 when Marquise Parker hit a three at the buzzer.
Madisonville took its first lead of the night at 7:04 to go in the 2nd quarter at 19-17. The game was then tied at 20, 22, and 24, before the Colonels ran off 8 in a row to take a 32-24 lead. Christian County extended the lead to as much as ten points, before the Maroons scored the final four points of the half to send it to the locker room at 38-32.
In the third quarter, the Colonels quickly pushed the lead out to 10 at 42-32. The Maroons tried to battle back, getting as close as two points on a couple of occasions, but still Christian County had the lead at 57-50 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
The back and forth battle continued until deep in the 4th quarter, where the Colonels led 63-60. At that point, the Colonels cranked up the pressure and the Maroons appeared to get leg weary, as the Colonels seized control of the game with a 16-4 run to finally put the Maroons away.
Christian County got a huge night from Detorrion Ware, who had 37 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter. Damikeon Mathis added 15, while Fred Tandy and JaQuon Long had 13 each.
Madisonville was led by big man Kenny White with 20. Sophomore Ksuan Casey added 19.
Christian County improves to 2-0 on the season, and will return to action Saturday against Doss in the Methodist Hospital Classic at Henderson County.
