It was one of those games that showed just how entertaining basketball in the 8th District can be. The UHA Blazers moved one step closer to procuring the top seed for the 8th District tournament Tuesday night. The Blazers took care of Christian County 69-54 in an intense and high energy battle at Blazer Gym.
Both teams struggled to score in the first couple of minutes as the defensive level was set on high intensity. KyKy Tandy finally got things going with a long three with 6:20 to go in the opening quarter. It would be the first three of a big, big quarter for Tandy, who would end up with 13 points in the first eight minutes. The game was tied early at 6, 8, and 11, before Christian County made brief spurt to go up 15-11. The Blazers then scored the final seven points of the first to take an 18-15 lead.
For a while, it looked like the Blazers were ready to take over the game in the 2nd quarter. UHA outscored Christian County 10-3 early in the quarter to move the lead out to 28-18, as Tandy scored four more to take his first half total to 17. Christian County found their footing for the rest of the quarter, and cut the lead down to 8 by the break at 33-25.
Again, coming out of the locker room to begin the 3rd quarter, it looked like UHA was ready to run off and hide. The Blazers opened the second half on threes by Taquan Hollowell and Drew McGowan to extend the lead to 39-25. Once again, the Colonels came battling back. Behind the play of Eric Brody and Damikeon Mathis, Christian County fought back and had the lead down to five at 50-45 when the quarter ended.
UHA opened the 4th quarter with five quick points to get the lead back to double digits at 55-45 with just over seven minutes to go. Christian County would get no closer than seven points from that point on. The play of KyKy Tandy and Drew McGowan in the final minutes helped to hold the Colonels at bay.
KyKy Tandy led all scorers in the game with 30 points for the Blazers. Drew McGowan added 19 points. Taquan Hollowell also reached double figures with 10.
A big night for Christian County’s Eric Brody, as the senior connected for 19 points. Olajuwon White and Damikeon Mathis scored 8 points each for the Colonels.
With the win, UHA improves to 23-4 overall and 4-0 in the district. The Blazers have a Thursday district game against Fort Campbell on post, before returning home Saturday for a huge game, in terms of district seeding, with the Hopkinsville Tigers.
Christian County, drops to 13-14 overall, and 2-4 in 8th District play. The Colonels will be the 3rd seed in this year’s 8th District tournament.