Christian County may have learned their lesson in closing out games after blowing a late lead Friday in a loss to Paducah Tilghman. The Colonels closed out their Saturday game with Graves County on a 10-0 run to beat the Eagles 43-33 in the fifth place game of the CFSB New Year’s Classic in Mayfield.
The Colonels were outscored 10-2 down the stretch in losing Friday’s opener. On Saturday, they made late free throws and took advantage of spotty Graves shooting at the charity stripe to conclude the tourney with a 2-1 record
Christian County hit 11-of-16 free throws in the second half, while Graves County was 7-of-21 at the line for the game and missed seven free throws in the fourth quarter which ruined any chance at overtaking the Colonels.
The Colonels were short-handed for Saturday’s game, playing without starters Qua Chambers and Mikeon Mathis. That allowed other players to step up in key spots against Graves.
The Colonels ended the first quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 15-9 lead they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the game. Graves got as close as 17-15 in the second quarter, but the Colonels would take a 22-17 into intermission.
Both teams struggled to find the basket in the third quarter. Christian County didn’t score in the first five minutes of the quarter but didn’t lose the lead. The Colonels were outscored 6-2 in the quarter.
Olajuwon White scored Christian County’s first four points of the fourth quarter, and then Bubba Leavell took over. The Colonel freshman scored nine straight points and finished with a game-high 17 points.
Stephen Bussell and White both scored nine points for the Colonels.
John Ben Brown and Mason Grant both scored nine points for Graves County (5-10), who turned the ball over 21 times and shot 7-of-21 at the free throw line.
Christian County improves to 6-8 and will host University Heights Tuesday at Lyle Dunbar Gymnasium in their first home game since Dec. 5.
Christian County 15 7 2 19—43
Graves County 9 8 6 10—33
Christian County (6-8) – Leavell 17, Bussell 9, White 9, Q. Forte 2, Farrow 2, Vaughn 2, H. Forte 2
Graves County (5-10) – Brown 9, Grant 9, Thomas 8, Babb 4, Oliver 3
