The Hopkinsville Tigers and the Graves County Eagles played a tight three quarters on Tuesday night at the Eagles’ Nest, with Graves County holding a 2-point advantage going into the fourth quarter. However, The Eagles took advantage of Tiger fouls and turnovers over the final 8 minutes, pulling away for a 66-52 victory.
The Tigers have a 4-game win streak snapped to slip to 12-9. Graves County wins its third-straight to move to 16-5.
Dunks by Jamarion Sharp and James Nicholas gave the Tigers an early lead, and they led 11-6 after a 3-pointer by Nicholas with 2:12 left in the first quarter. Graves closed on a 7-2 run to tie the game 13-13.
Jacarius Burks scored 7 second-quarter points, helping the Tigers to a 27-24 lead at the break after Nicholas beat the buzzer with a banked-in jumper.
Sharp began the second half with a dunk, but Graves’ Jordyn Naranjo got hot with 8 points in the third quarter. Hoptown’s Arthur McKnight knocked down a 3 at the buzzer, but the Tigers trailed 43-41 heading into the fourth.
Naranjo kept the hot hand over the final 8 minutes, scoring 9 of his 17 second-half points to help the Eagles outscore Hopkinsville 23-11 in the fourth. Nicholas scored 7, but Graves went 8-11 from the free throw line to seal the victory.
Hopkinsville finished 1-2 for the game from the free throw line, while Graves shot 15-21.
Naranjo’s 25 led all scorers, followed for the Eagles by Jacob Savage with 11 and Seth Thomas with 13.
Nicholas finished with 19, with Burks the only other Tiger in double figures with 15.
