The defending 2nd Region champions begin their trek towards a possible repeat Monday night with a tough quarterfinal round opponent. The Madisonville-North Hopkins Maroons, champions of the 7th District, will take on the Henderson County Colonels, the runners-up out of the 6th District in Wednesday night’s second game at Hopkinsville High School.
The Maroons come into the tournament with a record of 28-3 on the season. In two of their losses, the opponent hit a shot at the buzzer in regulation to force overtime. Madisonville has not lost a game to an opponent from the 2nd Region this season. Lyon County came the closest to the Maroons during the regular season, losing by seven points in Eddyville.
Madisonville is led by their “twin towers” of Kenny White and Ksuan Casey. White averages 18.4 points a game, while Casey is right behind him at 18.2. However the Maroons are far from being just a two man team. Deljuan Johnson averages 11.0 points a game. Keshawn Stone comes into the tourney at 8.3 points per contest.
On the glass, Ksuan Casey has been a force all season, averaging 10.3 rebounds per game. Kenny White is not far back of that mark with 8.2 boards a contest.
The Maroons come into the game blistering the nets at 51.3-percent, and shooting 34-percent from behind the 3-point line. They average 34.6 rebounds a night.
Henderson County comes into the tournament with a record of 19-12. The Colonels were upset by Webster County in the 6th District championship game after beating the Trojans twice during the regular season. Henderson has won five of its last seven games.
The Colonels are paced by Daymian Dixon at 15.7 points per game. The only other Colonel to average in double figures for the season is Noah Curry at 11.2 points per night. Myekel Sanners is next on Henderson scoring chart with 7.2 points.
Curry is the team’s leading rebounder at 5.3 per game. No other Henderson player is averaging more than four rebounds per contest.
Henderson County comes into the regional tournament shooting just 43.8-percent from the field. The Colonels like the long ball, putting up 625 3-point attempts on the season, connecting on 31-percent of those shots. Henderson pulls down an average of 26.2 rebounds per contest.
Madisonville is averaging 72.5 points per game, while giving up just 56.8 points. Henderson County comes into the tournament at 61 points per game. The Colonels give up an average of 57.6 points.
The two teams met in last year’s regional semifinals, with the Maroons coming away with a 66-49 win on their home court on their way to the regional championship.
This season, Madisonville beat Henderson 56-48 back on January 18 in Henderson.
