Senior Micah Naylor scored 20 second-half points to lead the Russellville Panthers to a 69-65 win over highly ranked Hopkinsville Monday at Jim Young Gymnasium.
The win over the Tigers may be the best regular season victory for the Panthers since Coach Phil Todd returned to the bench in 2012. Todd, of course, is Russellville’s all-time victories leader, having taken the Panthers to five regional finals, three regional championships, and two state Final Four berths.
Chris McGinnis of WRUS, who broadcast the game with the help of RHS Athletic Director Calvin Head, called it a “signature win.”
The win came two nights after the Panthers had fallen 72-70 in Hopkinsville against another Second Region power, University Heights Academy. Then another night later, Coach Tim Haworth’s Tigers edged UHA 77-73 Tuesday.
In the loss to UHA, Russellville all-state candidate Pedro Bradshaw scored 32 points, 17 of them coming in the second half. But in the win over Hoptown, he totaled just 12 points.
“Nobody in their right mind would have thought it could be true that Russellville would beat Hopkinsville with Pedro only scoring 12 points,” Head said.
Bradshaw, however, had 10 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 each of steals and blocks to go with his 12 points.
The Tigers led RHS 29-17 at the half, but Naylor pulled the Panthers into a tie at 36-36. Panther Elijah Kemp’s layup at the third quarter buzzer made the HHS lead 42-41 going into the final period.
Jacob Naylor, Micah’s younger brother, hit a 3-pointer to give the home team the lead at 44-41. Micah hit a pair of free throws to put RHS up for keeps at 51-50, and when he hit two more the lead was a seemingly safe 61-54.
Hopkinsville’s Jalen Johnson wouldn’t let his team drop out of sight, though. His three-pointer with 26 seconds remaining cut the margin to one at 66-65. Kemp’s free throw made the lead two just three seconds late. The Tigers missed four shots but Jacob Naylor canned a pair of foul shots with 9-tenths of a second for the final margin.
Micah Naylor, a senior who has played significant minutes for four years, scored 10 points in both the third quarter and the fourth quarter. He was five of six at the free throw line. The rest of the Panthers were 8 of 16 in free throw shooting.
Jacob Naylor joined Bradshaw with 12 points while Kemp was the fourth double figure scorer with 11.
Johnson finished with 32 points. He was 10 of 20 from the field, including 3 of 10 from long-range. He hit 9 of 13 free throws with the rest of the team going 2 of 6.
Score by Quarters: 1) Hoptown 16-9, 2) 29-17, 3) 42-41, Final) Russellville 69, Hopkinsville 65
HHS (65) Jalen Johnson 32, C.J. Henagan 9, Josiah Patton 7, Stephen Cager 6, Brandon Govan 6, James Nicholas 3, P.J. Wilson 2
RHS (69) Micah Naylor 22, Jacob Naylor 12, Pedro Bradshaw 12, Elijah Kemp 11, Jaylyn McMurry 7, Paul Jones 3, Shon Kees 2, Deshawn Mason
UHA 72, RHS 70
Bradshaw was 6 of 6 at the line and 13 of 23 from the field against the Blazers. He had 15 rebounds.
Micah Naylor was the only other Panther in double figures, aided by a pair of three-pointers. Paul Jones, Shon Kees and Jacob Naylor also hit treys.
UHA had a three-man attack. Tray Holloman scored 24, Drew McGowen 22 and Ky Ky Tandy 17 in handing the Panthers their only loss so far.
Russellville hit 15 of 18 free throws and the Blazers 17 of 23.
Score by Quarters: 1) UHA 16-13, 2) RHS 44-43, 3) UHAS 60-50, Final) University Heights Academy 72, Russellville 70
RHS (70) Pedro Bradshaw 32, Micah Naylor 13, McMurry 6, Jones 5, J. Naylor 5, Kemp 2, Mason 2
UHA (72) Tray Holloman 24, Drew McGowen 22, Ky Ky Tandy 17, Taquan Howell 5, Malik Lovan 2, Jordan Johnson 2, Jacorie Summers