The Christian County boys’ basketball team won three games in three days, culminating in a 66-60 win over the Todd County Central Rebels on Saturday, to take the championship of the Baptist Health and Sports Rehab Holiday Classic at Webster County High School. With the win, the Colonels improve to 8-1 and have won five straight, while the Rebels slip to 6-4. The meeting marked the 70th all-time game between the two teams, with the Colonels now leading the series 52-18. It was the first time the teams have met in almost twenty years.
The Colonels started quickly, jumping out to a 10-4 lead with just over four minutes gone in the first quarter. After a rebound and putback by junior forward Fred Tandy, the Colonel lead was 12-6. Rebel senior Nolan Barrow scored 8 straight points, with a Colonel three-pointer by senior guard Jordan Johnson in the middle, to cut the lead to 15-14 with 1:30 left. Tandy and Rebel senior center Jon Calvery exchanged baskets, and the Colonels led 17-16 after the first quarter.
After a basket by junior forward Eric Brody, the Colonels opened up a 26-21 lead with 4:03 left in the second quarter, before Todd County responded with a Calvery free throw and a hook by senior forward Elijah Bell to cut the lead to 2. With under a minute left in the half, sophomore guard Damikeon Mathis hit one of two free throws to give the Colonels a 29-26 halftime lead.
Calvery led the Rebels with 9 first-half points, followed by Barrow’s 8, and Bell’s 6. Mathis was high-point man for the Colonels with 7, and Tandy and Brody added 6 each.
Thirty seconds into the second half, Colonel senior JaQuon Long twice rebounded his own miss and scored to restore the 5-point lead. The Rebels answered with a 3, to which Long replied with a 3 of his own, and then scored on a layup to lead 36-32 with two minutes gone in the quarter. A basket by Todd’s Tashaun Foster tied the game at 36, before Barrow went coast-to-coast for a lay in to give the Rebels their first lead of the game with five minutes left in the quarter. The Rebels pushed the lead out to 7 with 2:23 left, but the Colonels responded with a 7-0 run on four free throws by Mathis and Long, and a 3-pointer by Johnson to tie the game at 45 with 1:15 left in the third. The teams then traded baskets, before Barrow stepped to the line with 2.7 seconds left and knocked down two to give the Rebels a 49-47 lead going into the final quarter.
Brody scored 4 straight, part of his 8-point fourth quarter, to give the Colonels a 57-51 lead with 4:30 left to play, before adding another basket after a Rebel free throw. A Barrow 3-pointer cut the lead to 59-56 with 2:36 left, but the Rebels wouldn’t get any closer, with Mathis and Long going 5-6 from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the win. A late Calvery bucket for the Rebels led to the final 66-60 score.
Long led the Colonels with 16 points, including 10 in the third quarter, followed by Brody with 15. Mathis chipped in 14, and Tandy was also in double-digits with 10. Johnson scored 9, and junior guard Nate McGregor had a basket to round out the Colonel scoring. The Colonels played without the state’s leading scorer, Detorrion Ware, who rolled his ankle toward the end of Friday’s win over Webster County.
Barrow and Calvery paced the Rebels with 15 each, and Weathers had 11. Bell scored 8, followed by Foster with 7, and senior center Collin Sharp with 4. The Rebels were without sophomore guard Austin Rager, after he suffered a scary injury in Friday’s win over Western. Rager is doing well, and is expected to return to practice next week.
After Christmas, the Colonels will travel to Poplar Bluff, MO to compete in the Poplar Bluff Showdown beginning on December 27. The Colonels open play with a game against Jonesboro, AR, with the following two games TBA. The Rebels holiday tournament schedule continues on December 28, when they travel to Allen County-Scottsville for the South Central Bank-Halton Classic. They begin play against the hosts, before facing off with Warren East (7-4) and Greenwood (5-5).
