The Week That Was proved to be a tough one for the Logan County Cougars only a few days after clinching the top seed in the upcoming 13th District Tournament by completing a regular season sweep of Russellville.
In just four days, Coach Lonnie Mason’s team lost three games, two of them on running clocks. They lost on the road to Bowling Green and Hopkinsville and in between at home to Clarksville Rossview.
It began at Bowling Green Monday. The Cougars were very much in the game early. They led 13-11 on Landon Stratton’s 3-pointer, but trailed 15-13 after a quarter. Taylor Blakemore tied the score twice, Ben Wright tied it again on an assist from J.R. Morrow, and Landon Stratton put the Cougars up 22-19 on Stratton’s trey. Blue Tisdale of BGH tied it on his own 3-pointer, but Blakemore hit his third goal of the quarter, and Morrow’s 3-pointer gave the Cougars a 25-22 lead.
Then the BGH burst the bubble.
Coach D. G. Sherill’s Purples outscored their guests 18-5 the remainder of the half and 53-29 in the second half on the way to a 96-59 win. They did it primarily by turning on their aggressive full-court pressure. They made life miserable for Cougar sophomore point guard Garrison Rosser and forced Logan in 27 turnovers as a team. BGH also had a 39-26 rebounding margin, with Clay Stivers totaling eight and Nacarius Fant five. Blakemore had seven for the Cougars.
Thirteen Purples scored, led by Stivers with 17. Fant added 13, Terry Taylor 12, and Tucker Sine and Tisdale 11 each. Nine Purples had 5 or more points.
Blakemore led Logan in scoring with 18 points while Ben Wright added 12 and Stratton 10, but Clint Knight was next with 5. Tucker Baldwin, Kaleb Coursey, Lorenzo Garcia, Rosser and Morrow also scored.
The LoJo
The Cougars stayed in sight of visiting Clarksville Rossview on Senior Night throughout the game but never could catch up in a 68-60 loss. The Hawks led 16-10, 32-23 and 44-34 at the first three stops. The Cougars scored almost as many points in the fourth quarter (26) than they had in the first three, but they allowed the visitors 24 points during the same time frame.
Four players finished in double figures for the winners with Julian Thompson-Clay and Javon Vaughn scoring 15 each, Donterius Peacher 14 and Cannon Campbell 10. Stratton scored 19 and Wright 15 for the Cougars.
Rossview shot well all night, hitting 54.2 percent in the first half and 53.3 percent in the second. Logan finished at 40.5 percent, mostly because the Cougars managed to get only 2 of 12 three-pointers to fall. Knight, who finished with 9 points, and Coursey each got one to fall.
The Cougars hit 72.7 percent of their free throws, with Stratton going 7 of 7, Baldwin 6 for 7, Knight 4 for 5, and Wright 5 of 7. Logan managed only 18 total rebounds, mostly because Blakemore hardly played. He fouled out in only 11 minutes of action.
Rossview’s season ended three days later when the Hawks lost to Coach Tim Riley’s Springfield team in the start of the Class AAA district tournament.
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Hopkinsville looked every bit of its ranking (5th in the state) in blowing out the visiting Cougars 104-60 Thursday. The Tigers scored 33 points the second quarter and 35 in the second to lead 68-31. Even though the margin created a running clock as soon as the second half begin, Coach Tim Haworth’s scored 36 more points in the second half.
The bigger, quicker Tigers forced Logan into 24 turnovers, giving them 67 miscues in three games. Hoptown turned the ball over just 9 times, running the opponents’ total to 42 in those contests.
Hopkinsville took 22 more shots than the Cougars, and hit 61.6 percent of their 73 field goal attempts, including 10 of 21 three-pointers. Two huge statistical differences: Hopkinsville 25 assists, Logan 7; HHS 19 steals, LCHS 3.
For Hoptown, Quan Poindexter scored 20, Jaqualis Matlock 16, Trey Edwards and Demarius Henry 15 each, and Kourtney Ware 10. It was the second game among the three losses that 13 members of the Cougars’ opposition scored in a game.
Wright led Logan with 21 points while Blakemore had 13. Coursey, who has been playing more and more, hit all three of his field goal attempts, including the only one the Cougars got to fall from long range, and scored 8 points, as did Knight.
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Coach Lonnie Mason’s Cougars close out their regular season on the road this week by going to South Warren Tuesday and Greenwood Thursday. Then they will host Franklin-Simpson Monday, Feb. 24 in the 13th District Tournament.