Down 2 points in Tuesday night’s 8th-District semifinal against Hopkinsville, Christian County senior Fred Tandy scored 5 points in 5 seconds to push the Colonels to a 57-54 victory and into Thursday’s championship game. The Tigers fall in the first round of the district tournament for the second-straight season, while the Colonels will be looking to avenge an 83-76 loss to the UHA Blazers in last season’s title game.
Trailing 4-3, Hopkinsville ran off the next 8 points, highlighted by dunks from Tefrell Toliver and Jamarion Sharp, to lead 11-4 after the first quarter.
The Tigers stretched the lead to 10 after a Don Victor bucket a couple of minutes into the second quarter, and led by 14 after a steal and transition 3-pointer by James Nicholas. Tandy gave a preview of things to come, knocking down 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to get the Colonels within 7. Sharp came up with 3 blocked shots in the last minute of the half to send the Tigers into halftime with a 28-21 advantage.
DaMikeon Mathis opened the second half with a 3, and the Colonels began to turn the Tigers over with a stifling full-court press. Another Mathis 3 gave the Colonels a 31-30 lead with 5:36 left in the third, their first lead since early in the first quarter. Brody came up with a steal and score to stretch the margin to 7, but Victor drained a corner 3 to make it 41-37 heading to the fourth quarter.
A basket by the Colonels’ Olajuwon White made it 48-40 with 5:48 to play, but the Tigers answered with a 7-2 run, including a big dunk by Burks, to trim it to 3. Two free throws from Nicholas pulled the Tigers to within 1 with 2:00 left, and neither team scored again until Victor connected on a 3 from the corner with to push the Tigers in front 54-52 and force a Colonel timeout.
Coming out of the timeout, the Colonels had :20 to work with. Mathis brought the ball down the court, but the play seemed slow to develop. He found Tandy in the corner with a cross-court pass, and he splashed a 3 to take the lead. With the Tigers scrambling to get the ball inbounds, Tandy stepped in front of a pass meant for Nicholas and put it in just before the buzzer to send half of Lyle Dunbar Gym into jubilation.
Tandy’s 16 led the Colonels, followed by Brody with 12, and Bussell with 11.
Nicholas finished with 15 for the Tigers, Victor scored 11, and Burks added 10.