The Hopkinsville Tigers didn’t have to wait long to get the bad taste of Friday night’s 7-point loss to McCracken County out of their mouth, avenging that setback on Saturday night with a 64-60 victory over the visiting Mustangs.
Noah Dumas fueled the Mustangs at the start with 10 points, but the Tigers used a balanced attack to lead 18-15 after the first quarter. Daisjaun Mercer put up 5 points, with Reece Jesse, Jamarcus Burks, and Alijah Watts each scoring 4.
Watts kept the hot hand in the second with 9 more, including a pair of 3-pointers, with Burks also shouldering the load with 6 points of his own. Ian McCune had 8 for the Mustangs, but the Tigers outscored them 24-14 to lead 42-29 at the break.
The Mustangs began to climb back into it in the third quarter behind 6 points from Brant Brower, trimming the margin to 9 with a quarter to play.
The Tiger offense stalled in the 4th, with Mercer and Burks combining for 8 of Hoptown’s 9 points over the final eight minutes. Dumas added 6 more to his game-high 21 and McCune chipped in 4, but the Mustang comeback fell 4 points short.
A night after shooting 26 free throws in the win over the Tigers, the Mustangs finished 14/15 on Saturday. Both teams shot 50% from the field, with the Tigers connecting on 5/11 free-throw attempts.
Watts led four Tigers in double figures with 16 points. Burks matched his Friday night total with 15, Jesse had 12, and Mercer finished with 11.
Hopkinsville will play its first 8th-District game of the season on Monday when Christian County visits Tiger Gym. The Colonels are 0-1 in district play with a loss to UHA.
McCracken 15 14 17 14 — 60
Hopkinsville 18 24 13 9 — 64
McCracken (15-6) — Dumas 21, I. McCune 14, Brower 11, Hart 5, J. McCune 4, Blackwell 3, Tilford 2
Hopkinsville (4-3) — Watts 16, Burks 15, Jesse 12, Mercer 11, Cabiness 4, Smith 3, Manning 2, McKnight 1
