Winning two of their three games, the Logan County Cougars finished third in the St, Mary Christmas Classic Friday through Monday. Eight teams played in the tournament at the Paducah private school.
Coach Josh Frick’s Cougars beat Hopkins County Central 72-61 on Friday, lost to tourney champ Carlisle County 74-69 in Saturday’s semifinals, and then beat Livingston Central 74-57 for third Monday.
Out of 12 games, only the championship game in which Carlisle edged St. Mary 53-51 was closer than Logan’s five-point loss to Carlisle.
Hopkins County Central beat South Fulton, Tenn. 88-51 for fifth place, and Trigg County crushed Crittenden County 68-46 for seventh.
The Cougars, who have won three of their last four games, will take a 4-4 record into Monday’s 5:30 p.m. game against Clarksville Northeast in the H&H Holiday Hoopfest at home.
Cougars 72, Hopkins County Central 61
Balanced scoring was the key for the winners. Five of the six who scored finished in double figures. They were Davis Switzer with 21, Jeremiah Washington 16, Joseph Mctire 13, and Jaxon Tichenor and Maliq Ford 10 each.
The Cougars shot well, led by Washington, who was 6 of 7 from the field, including hitting his only three-point attempt. Switzer and Ford each went 1 for 2 from that range.
Logan hit 23 of 42 two-point shots for 54.8 percent. The Cougars went 5 of 11 beyond the arc for 45.5 percent. Switzer hit all 6 of his foul shots as the team hit 11 of 16 overall for 68.8 percent.
That good shooting led to few rebounds, just 119, in fact. Ford got 4 of them and McTire 3.
Carlisle County 74, Cougars 69
Despite Christian Helle and Switzer each hitting 4 of 7 three-point attempts each and Switzer totaling 31 points, the Cougars were edged by eventual champion Carlisle County by five points.
The Cougars’ problem was hitting just a third of their short shots (11 of 33), intensified by getting only 11 of 16 free throws to fall of 48.8 percent. With Helle and Switzer hitting so well from outside, they went 12 of 23 on three-pointers for slightly over half.
Helle finished with 12 points with Tichenor and Ford totaling 7 each and Washington and Mctire 6 each.
Switzer hit 11 of 14 free throw attempts but the rest of the team attempted only two more, missing them both.
Switzer was also the rebound leader with 7. Washington had 6 and Mctire 4.
Coach Brian McNeill’s Comets ran their record to 8-2 after this tournament. Wyatt Rickard scored 27 in the win, almost reaching Switzer’s output. He shot 20 free throws, hitting 16.
Cougars 74, Livingston Central 57
Helle and Switzer tied for the scoring lead with 20 points each. Switzer was 9 of 11 from two-point range and added a pair of free throws. Helle was 4 of 5 from in close and added two three-pointers. Ford was 3 of 5 from the two-point area and1 of 2 from both outside and free throw territory for 10 points.
Just like the game two nights earlier, two players (Tichenor and Mctire) scored 7 each and two (Braden Little and Washington) 5 each.
Tichenor hit both of his free throws and Mctire, a freshman, was 3 of 4,
Frick’s team pulled down 41 rebounds with Ford piling up 13, Switzer 7, and Tichenor and McTire 6 each.
Also playing in this trophy game were Elijah Sells, Jonathan Baker and Silas Bernier.