Victor Hampton, who has the least varsity experience among the current Panthers, hit three of six free throws in less than a second in overtime Tuesday
night to send Russellville back to the championship game of the tournament they won last year.
The Logan County Cougars gave a tremendous effort against a talented, well-coached Ohio County team, but came up just short of creating a Clash of the
Cats championship contest.
As a result of the two winners' bracket semifinals games, the Panthers set up a finals showdown with Ohio County in the First southern National
Bank/Roy's Bar-B-Q Christmas Classic. It was scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday in the LCHS gym, ending three days of 24 games in the boys and girls
divisions.
The Lady Cougars ran their record in two years of tournament play to 5-0 by beating Garrard County in overtime, shortly after the Lady Panthers had
dropped a 45-43 decision to Middlesboro. Coach Scot MacAllister's LCHS team was slated to play Middlesboro at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the RHS gym.
RHS 58, Central Hardin 55
The boys semifinal action found both losing teams upset with the officiating throughout the games, and it boiled over at the end of the opener. The
Central Hardin bench had complained about calls and no-calls much of the game. When RHS was awarded the ball under its own goal with just three seconds
remaining and the score tied, more complaining ensued during the timeout. When an assistant coach came out on the floor to ask where the ball would be
inbounded, he was hit with a technical foul. Then when he slammed his clipboard on a chair, he was assessed another technical and ejected from the
game.
Coach Rusty Clark chose Hampton to shoot the four free resulting throws, and he hit two of them. Then Russellville got the ball at midcourt on the
technical. Hampton took the inbounds pass and was immediately fouled, again hitting one of two for the final score of 56-53. The Panthers had struggled
mightily at the line, hitting only 5 of 15 before Hampton made it 8 of 21.
The Panthers had led by seven going into the final quarter, but Central Hardin kept chipping away, tying the game at 49-49 on a goal by center Joseph
Harmon with 1:25 remaining. The Panthers went into a stall for almost a minute before turning the ball over. Davonta Bryant blocked a Bruins shot. It
appeared Damien Elam had gotten possession of the loose ball and tried to call timeout, but an official ruled it a held ball, and possession went to
CHHS under its own goal. There was a collision on the inbounds pass, Harmon went down, and he was called for walking.
Ryan Squires made a steal for Central Hardin and went hard to the basket. He hit the floor instead of the basket. A Panther foul was called, but it was
decided the personal had come after the buzzer. It was time for overtime.
Central Hardin scored the first four points of the OT. RHS cut the lead to two on a goal by Bryant assisted by Elam. Kevin Temple intercepted a pass,
getting the ball back for Russellville, and Elam hit a free throw. But Austin Barnett hit his second goal of the extra period to make the Bruins' lead
three. Temple hit a free throw, D.J. Quarles forced a turnover, and Bryant tied the game with a baseline drive. That set up the fireworks.
Quarles led the Panthers in scoring with 15 points. Bryant had 12 and Elam 11. Quarles was also the rebound leader with 11 while Hampton and Elam had 5
each. Elam had 5 steals and 5 turnovers. The Panthers were cold from the field as well as the line, hitting 4 of 23 three-point shots. They were 19 of
36 from two-point range.
Central Hardin lost its leading scorer, Nolan Todd, in the third period with an injury, and he still tied Barnett for his team's leading scorer with 13
points. Harmon had 12 points and 9 rebounds.
Ohio County 74, Logan County 65
Every time that it appeared the Eagles were about to put the game out of reach, Logan County kept refusing to fold, coming back with hustle and
determination.
After two goals late in the quarter by Cougar Twin Lancaster, Ohio County led 17-14 after a quarter. The Eagles went up 31-22, but once again the
Cougars came back with Troy Graham and Lancaster scoring buckets to reduce the margin to four. Derrod Blakey had a dunk that would have cut the lead to
two, but he forgot to put the ball on the floor as he took a giant step to the basket. The Eagles led 35-29 at the half.
Once again, Ohio County was up by nine in the third quarter, but Brett Sowell hit a 3-pointer. When Seth McReynolds scored after picking up a loose
ball and then hit a free throw on the next possession, Logan trailed only 48-45. The Ohio County lead was 53-47 going into the final period.
McReynolds hit a 3-pointer. and Lancaster scored on a length-of-the-court pass from Graham, who had made a steal. Again Lancaster scored on a Graham
assist to tie the game with 4:28 remaining. McReynolds gave the Cougars their first lead at 62-61 on an assist from Reuben Rawlings-Watson, who was all
over the floor trying to help his team.
Graham gave Logan its last lead with 2:35 to make it 64-63, but Logan managed only one more point the rest of the game. Missed free throws and shots
plus traveling calls ended the threat.
Neither team could capitalize on free throw chances. Ohio County hit the same number of free throws that Logan County shot (18). The Eagles missed 14
foul shots. Logan was a frigid 7 of 18 at the line. The Cougars hit four more field goals than the Eagles, but the winners hit six more 3-pointers than
did the Cougars.
Lancaster followed up his double-double from the day before with 18 points, 13 rebounds and 4 steals. Graham had 20 points but only one rebound and 7
turnovers, including a big one late in the game when he was bumped.
McReynolds and Rawlings-Watson had 10 points each. Rawlings-Watson also had 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.
Kellen Fleener scored 21 points, hitting 5 of 8 three-pointers and 6 of 9 free throws for the winners. Heath Garner had 13 points and 6 rebounds.
The Cougars were scheduled to play Central Hardin in the third place game at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.