While Derrin Boyd won the individual scoring battle on the evening, it was KyKy Tandy’s team that came away with the win Tuesday evening. In a game that featured arguably the two best players in the 2nd Region, who combined to score 83 points, the UHA Blazers held off furious rally from the Caldwell County Tigers to pick up a big 96-91 win in a shootout in front of a loud crowd at Blazer Gym.
With the two student sections cranked up and ready to go, this one got off to a rip-roaring start that carried throughout the entire. The Tigers gave no indication of being intimated by the Blazers from the moment the game tipped off. The tone was set early as Caldwell County’s John Davis connected on a three, followed moments later by a old fashioned three point play from KyKy Tandy. After a Tandy basket gave UHA a 12-9 lead, Caldwell County ripped off a 12-3 spurt to go up 21-15. At the end of the quarter, Caldwell’s lead was 25-20. Tandy scored 16 in the opening quarter, while Boyd came up with 14, giving a good indication of the all night scoring battle that was to come.
The Caldwell County lead was 30-24 early in the second quarter, when UHA made a run of their own. Behind the play of Taquan Hollowell, the Blazers used a 12-6 run to pull even with Caldwell County at 36-36. Hollowell scored ten points during that stretch. A John Davis 3-point play put the Tigers back up 39-36. UHA appeared to then take control of the game, outscoring the Tigers 15-4 over the rest of the half to take a 51-43 lead into the locker room. Tandy finished the half with 27 for UHA, while Boyd had 19 for the Tigers.
The Blazer run to finish the first half, continued to begin the second half, as it appeared that UHA was about ready to put Caldwell County away. UHA began the third by outscoring the Tigers 16-8 to pull out to a 67-51 lead. A KJ Crump 3-pointer moments later gave the Blazers their biggest lead of the game at 74-55 with 1:50 to go in the third. It looked like the Tigers were on the verge of being out of the game. However, Derrin Boyd and Caldwell County were not quite ready to call it a night just yet.
Caldwell County, led by John Davis, scored 10 unanswered over the final 1:50 of the quarter to cut the lead to 74-65 headed into the final quarter.
Derrin Boyd then took his team on his shoulders as the fourth quarter got underway. Boyd scored 18 points in the final quarter as the Tigers began to chip away at the UHA lead. Following a Taquan Hollowell basket, UHA’s lead was 89-81 with about 2 minutes to go. Boyd hit a three to cut the lead to 89-84. Tandy scored for UHA to push it back out ot 91-84.
Then, it was Boyd’s turn again, as he scored to make it 91-86 with 1:20 to go. A pair of free throws from Cayden Fraliex cut the lead to 91-88 with 1:08 left. Boyd then sank a pair of free throws to make it 91-90 with 55.5-seconds in the game.
KyKy Tandy was fouled and knocked down both free throws to put the Blazers up 93-90 with 50-seconds left. Caldwell County would then get a chance to tie, as John Davis was fouled deep in the left corner on a 3-point attempt. However, Davis could only get 1 of the 3 free throws to fall, cutting the UHA lead to 93-91. Tandy and Will Bryan were then able to make three of four free throws to seal the five point win.
KyKy Tandy had a huge night in his final regular season game with 40 points for UHA. Drew McGowan added 20 points, while Taquan Hollowell chipped in with 16 in their final games in Blazer Gym.
Caldwell County’s Derrin Boyd led all scorers with 43 points. John Davis finished with 24 for Caldwell County. Cayden Fraliex added 10 points.
UHA finishes the regular season at 26-4. Caldwell County falls to 17-9.
