On a night when the Todd County Central boys struggled to take care of the basketball, Hopkins County Central got 20 points from Marcus Eaves and took advantage of the Rebels’ carelessness in a 56-37 victory Tuesday night in Elkton.
The win is the second in as many nights for the Storm after starting the season with four losses, while the Rebels drop their third-straight to slip to 3-9 overall.
The Rebels led 4-2 before three-straight 3-pointers, two by Wesley Morris, gave the Storm an 11-4 advantage and forced a Todd Central timeout. Preston Moore scored in the lane and followed with a 3-point play on the next time down to pull the Rebels to within 4 to end the first quarter.
Perez Whitlock knocked down a jumper in the lane to trim the Storm lead to a basket, but Kolby Williams answered with a 3-pointer and Trevor Weldon scored 5-straight to give Hopkins Central its first double-digit advantage at 26-15 with a minute left in the half.
The lead was down to 6 after Moore hit one of two free throws for the Rebels, but they were held scoreless over the final 4:47 of the 3rd quarter. Eaves scored 6 points during an 8-0 spurt and the Storm led 40-26 heading to the fourth.
Eaves kept the hot hand to close out the game, tacking on 8 more points on 6/8 shooting from the free-throw line. His putback with 4:48 to play stretched the cushion to 20 and the Storm weren’t threatened the rest of the way.
The Rebels will look to regroup ahead of a visit from Russellville on Thursday. The Panthers took the first meeting 57-46 just over a month ago. The Storm also have a district matchup next on the schedule, with a trip across town to face Madisonville-North Hopkins on Friday.
Hopkins Central 13 13 14 16 — 56
Todd Central 9 10 7 11 — 37
Hopkins Central (2-4) — Eaves 20, Morris 10, Peyton 8, Skeen 8, Weldon 7, Williams 3
Todd Central (3-9) — Andrews 8, Whitlock 8, Moore 6, Johnson 4, Galima 4, Foster 3, Rager 2, Glass 2
