Crittenden County took full advantage of having the Fifth District Tournament on their home floor as they knocked off the top two seeds to win their first district title since 1998. The Rockets closed the game on a 7-2 run to edge Lyon County 52-51 Thursday in Marion.
Logan Belt scored on an alley-hoop off a sideline pass from Hunter Boone with 12 seconds left to give the Rockets only their second lead of the second half. Lyon’s Gabe Board took the inbounds pass and raced down the court. He was called for a charge on his shot in the paint with 1.2 seconds left. Crittenden inbounded the ball and celebrated their first district title since moving to their new gym 15 years ago.
The game featured four ties and six lead changes. Crittenden jumped out to a 12-4 lead early only to see Lyon end the first quarter on a 16-5 run. The Lyons extended the lead to 11 and led 36-27 at halftime.
After Crittenden cut the lead to 41-40, the Lyon responded with a 6-0 run to go up 47-40 early into the fourth quarter. Lyon got strong play off the bench from senior Matthew Brown, who scored 10 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
In the same way Lyon County beat Trigg County in the semifinals when Trigg missed free throws late, Lyon missed the front ends of two bonus shots in the last two minutes against Crittenden. Tyler Boone hit two free throws with 1:10 to give the Rockets their first lead of the second half. Jackson Shoulders answered with a bucket with 59 seconds left. After a Crittenden miss, the Lyons missed a bonus shot to set up the game-winner for the Rockets.
Preston Turley battled foul trouble to score 13 points and grab seven rebounds. Sawyer Towery added 11 rebounds, and Belt scored eight.
Board led Lyon with 17 points. Shoulders just missed joining Brown and Board in double figures with nine points and five rebounds.
Crittenden County is the first four seed to win the Boys’ Fifth District Tournament since the schools voted to seed the tourney 30 years ago.
Crittenden County (7-19) and Lyon County (8-18) will learn Saturday who they play in next week’s Second Region Tournament at Henderson County.
