After losing their tournament opener last weekend, the Russellville Panthers won their other two games Saturday. That placed Coach Phil Todd’s team in a tie for third place in the eight-team Unitde Southern Bank’s Battle of The Border in Elkton.
The Panthers fell 56-50 to Muhlenberg County Friday, and it turned out that was the team which tied RHS for third with 2-1 records. Mayfield and Union County each went 3-0, but the Panthers didn’t play either of them. Montgomery Central and Smyrna—both of Tennessee—tied for fifth with 1-2 marks.
A look at the Panthers” games:
Muhlenberg County 56, Russellville 50
Octavious “Too Too” McKeage led the way for the Panthers with 20 points and 12 rebounds. No other RHS player had more than 4 boards. McKeage hit all four of his free throw attempts. The rest of the team got only 8 of 21 foul shots to fall through the nets. He added a pair of three-pointers.
The team struggled overall in shooting. The Panthers hit just 4 of 24 three-pointers (16.7 percent) and 17 of 54 overall for 31.5 percent.
Jamarion Gardner added 13 points for the Panthers. Also scoring were Takyon Darden, Jerius Coleman, Laryan Nourse and JacCoveon Temple-Dickerson.
Gunnar Revelett led the Mustangs with 16 points while Madix Brannon, Kason Morris and Jace Sommers joined him in double figures. Brannon had 9 rebounds, Isaac Coats 8, Revelett 5, and Jace Edwards 4.
Coach Aaron Morris’ 9-3 Mustangs shot well, hitting 7 of 11 free throws and 20 of 37 two-point shots.
Panthers 79, Smyrna 6
The stats were much improved in the middle game of the tournament. Russellville hit 20 of 38 two-point attempts (52.6 percent). 5 of 15 three-pointers (33.3 percent) , and 24 of 31 free throws (977.4 percent).
Four of the seven Panthers who scored finished in double figures. They were McKeage with 28, Coleman 18, Gardner 14 and Noah Stovall 13.
Stovall had 12 of the Panthers’ 34 rebounds and McKeage 10.
RHS 78, Montgomery Central 61
McKeage continued his high scoring with another 28-point performance. He hit 11 of 14 two-points shots plus a three-pointer. Stovall added 17 points and Gardner 13.
Stovall hit 7 of 11 shots from short range, Gardner 5 of 6, Coleman 4 of 5, Kein Gray 2 of 2, Nourse 2 of 3 and Takyon Darden and Temple-Dickerson each 1 of 2. The Panthers were a sizzling 33 of 44 from two-point territory for 75 percent.
McKeage totaled 12 of the Panthers’ 35 rebounds with Stovall getting 8.
In the three games, McKeage totaled 76 points and 34 rebounds.