The Lyon County boys’ basketball team fell 59-41 to the visiting Livingston Central Cardinals on Friday night, ending its run in the quarterfinals of the 2nd Region All “A” tournament. The Cardinals improve to 12-8 and avenge a 9-point loss to the Lyons only eight days ago. The Lyons see a two-game winning streak snapped, and slide to 3-11 on the year.
The Lyons jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but neither team could find much offense from there. With just over 30 second left in the quarter, Lyons’ senior forward Max Wadlington knocked down two free throws to tie the game at 8, but the Cardinals would score last to close the quarter with a 10-8 lead.
The scoring picked up a bit in the second quarter, beginning with Lyon freshman Kade Blackburn converting two free throws to tie the game at 10. The teams battled back and forth over the next four minutes, before junior point guard Gabe Board finished off a lob to give the Lyons a 20-16 lead. A Livingston basket with 33 seconds left tied the game at 22, with Lyon coming up short at the buzzer.
Wadlington scored 9 of the Lyons’ 22 first-half points, followed by Blackburn’s 7. For the Cardinals, senior forward Cameron Dean led the way with 12.
Livingston Central came roaring out of the locker room, hitting three unanswered three-pointers on the way to a 31-22 lead. The Cardinals continued the surge for 6 more points, before Board stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer for the Lyons. With just under four minutes left in the quarter, the Lyons found themselves trailing 37-25, victims of a 15-3 run. A three by freshman guard Travis Yancy got the lead back to single-digits at 39-30, but Board saw his bid to cut the lead to 6 rim out at the buzzer.
A Yancy free throw to start the final frame got the Lyons to within 8, but it would be as close as they got the rest of the way. The Cardinal lead swelled to 50-35 with 4:27 to play, followed soon after by a technical foul on Lyon freshman guard Clay Haines. Livingston converted 3 of the 4 free throws to push the lead to 18, and any hope of a Lyon comeback was extinguished. With 1:20 left both teams pulled the starters, and the Cardinals moved on with the 59-41 win.
After a slow first half, Board scored 11 second-half points to lead the Lyons with 15, the only Lyon in double-figures. Wadlington and Blackburn followed with 9 and 7, but both were shutout in the second half. Yancy and Penn finished with 4 each, and 8th grade power forward Jackson Shoulders got on the board with a basket. Dean led the Cardinals with 17, and senior guard Dylan Sherer scored 12, including 5 in the fourth quarter.
Livingston Central moves on to the semifinal on Saturday, matching up with the Caldwell County Tigers after their 57-33 win over Crittenden County. The Lyons will be back in action on Monday, when they welcome the Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons (13-5) to Eddyville.