After losing to McCracken County by 27 points in the season-opener, the Christian County boys’ basketball team came within a bucket of avenging that loss on Thursday night. However, a turnover on the their final possession sent the Colonels to a 52-50 loss to the hosts at Mustang Madness.
The Colonels see a 2-game win streak snapped, while still winning four of their last 6 for an even 7-7 record. The Mustangs improve to 12-1 and remain undefeated against in-state competition.
Christian County took a 4-0 lead on baskets by DaMikeon Mathis and Olajuwon White, forcing a McCracken timeout. Back-to-back buckets by Fred Tandy gave the Colonels a 10-5 lead, and they led by 4 after the first quarter.
Mathis scored on a drive to make it 16-11, and the Colonels maintained the 5-point edge with 3 minutes to play in the half. The Mustangs pulled to within a point twice on makes by Jackson Sivills, but couldn’t even the score and trailed 22-21 at the half.
Sivills began the second half with a 3-pointer to give McCracken its first lead, but the teams would battle back and forth throughout the quarter. After four ties and six lead changes, consecutive scores by Tandy and DT Babb put the Colonels ahead 40-37 with :20 left in the third. A jumper at the buzzer by Trevor Winsett cut the margin to 1.
Neither team led by more than a point until 2 of Sivills’ 6 fourth-quarter free throw makes put the Mustangs up 46-43. Mathis responded with a 3-pointer and a pull-up in the lane to push the Colonels back in front, but with less than a minute to go McCracken led by a basket.
The Colonels came up with a steal and Eric Brody converted a layup to tie the game at 50-50 with 28 seconds left. Out of a Mustang timeout, Winsett drew a foul and hit both free throws for the final margin. The Colonels had a couple of chances in the final 10 seconds, but a Sivills block and a Colonel turnover ended the game.
Sivills, the son of former Trigg County All-State forward Scott Sivills, led all scorers with 26, including 13-16 from the free throw line. For the Colonels, Tandy finished with 14 and Mathis added 12.