It would have been a game fitting for the championship of the 2018 Chad Gardner Law King of the Bluegrass. Instead, UHA and Male squared off in the auxiliary gym at Fairdale High School in the semifinals of the consolation bracket in a game that was hard fought, intense, and was finally settled in a wild thirty seconds, capped off with a buzzer beater.
Taquan Hollowell’s second chance basket as the horn sounded, carried the UHA blazers to a heart stopping 67-65 win over former Hoptown coach Tim Haworth and his Bulldogs.
The game got off to about as bad a start as it could for the Blazers. Male bolted out of the gate to a 12-0 lead just over two minutes into the game. As they have several times already this season, the Blazers began to battle back. After struggling with his shooting in the first two games of the KOB, shots fell early for KyKy Tandy, resulting in a visable lift in his confidence and that of his teammates.
A couple of baskets by KJ Crump, and a couple of threes for Tandy, jump started the Blazer offense. UHA closed out the quarter with a basket by Taquan Hollowell and a three by Drew McGowan to cut the lead to 20-15 at the end of one.
An old fashioned 3-point play by Tandy tied the game for the first time at 21-21 with 5:55 to go in the half. The two teams battled up and down the court and in the half court, in what at times was a very physical contest. The Blazers got big minutes, especially defensively in the second quarter from DJ Quarles. UHA scored the final seven points of the half to take a 30-27 lead into the locker room.
The Blazers opened the third quarter with a run that looked like it might knock Male out of the game. When Taquan Hollowell capped off an 11-5 run with a basket, the Blazers were up 41-32 with 5:15 to go in the third. But, this bunch of Bulldogs still had some bite in ’em.
Male, behind the spectacular play of Tyren Moore, made their charge. The Bulldogs finished the third on a 15-5 run to take a 47-46 lead into the final quarter. And, Moore was not done just yet.
When Moore hit a deep, deep three with 5:40 to go in the game, UHA found themselves reeling and down 54-48. Back fought the Blazers. Four points from Tandy and two from Quarles, and the game was tied 54-54 with 4:25 to go.
Two baskets by Moore and a steal and an old fashioned three point play by Jake Evans, and Male looked to have things going their way, up 61-56 with under three minutes to go. Not quite so fast, however, said KyKy Tandy. The UHA senior scored five points in just over a minute and the game was tied at 61-61. Free throws by Moore and a basket by Tandy set up the wild finish.
With the game tied at 63-63 in the final minute, Evans missed the front end of a one-and-one for Male. Drew McGowan got the rebound and got the ball in the hands of Tandy, who then drove the ball to the basket and gave UHA a 65-63 lead. Moore hurried the ball down the court for Male and drained a pressured shot from about 14 feet to tie the game with just over seven seconds left.
UHA elected not to take a time out and hurried the ball into front court. KJ Crump launched a shot from about 30 feet that hit the back of the iron and came straight to Taquan Hollowell, who banked in a shot as the horn sounded to end the game, and send the Blazer bench charging the court in euphoria.
Tandy had his best game of the tournament with 36 points, 17 of them in the final quarter. KJ Crump added 11 points for the Blazers.
Tyren Moore led the Bulldogs with 29 points.
UHA improves to 9-1 and will play Sunday afternoon at 3:00 EST for the consolation bracket championship.