Anyone could be forgiven if they didn’t give Todd County Central much of a chance on Wednesday night against visiting Logan County, with the Rebels without a win in the last eight meetings with the Cougars and still smarting from a 34-point blowout in Russellville in late January.
However, the Rebels weren’t buying into all that, and it paid off with a momentum-building, buzzer-beating 46-45 victory over the Cougars in both team’s regular-season finale.
It looked to be a repeat of the first meeting when the Cougars jumped out to a 7-0 advantage, and the lead was 16-6 after Anthony Woodard converted an and-1 just over midway through the first quarter. Woodard capped an 11-point start with a buzzer-beating layup, and Logan County doubled-up the Rebels 20-10.
But Todd Central had other ideas, and they answered with an 11-0 run to take the lead after Amari Andrews converted a 3-point play for a 21-20 score. The Rebels built a 4-point cushion on a basket by Jamison Glass in the lane and a pull-up jumper by Preston Moore, but Woodard again scored ahead of the horn with a steal and 3-pointer to trim the Todd Central advantage to 29-28 at the halftime break.
Landon Larson scored down low for the Cougars to nudge ahead at the start of the third, but Todd Central answered with 6-straight for a 35-30 lead. The Rebels’ Mareke Johnson broke a 37-37 tie with a baseline jumper, but Blake Wood connected on a 3-pointer to put Logan County in front 40-39 with a quarter to play.
Down a point, Glass hit 1 of 2 free throws and followed with a jumper in the lane for a 44-42 Rebel lead, but the Cougars’ Jaden Sells scored down low to tie the game with a minute to play.
Larson hit the second of two free throws for a 45-44 Logan County lead with :14.4 left, and the Cougars called a timeout. The Rebels worked the ball up the court and Moore got a good look at a mid-range jumper, but it bounced off. Glass outjumped the pack in the lane to bring down the rebound and went straight back up to score with just under :05 on the clock. The Cougars inbounded to Wood, but his halfcourt heave was offline, and the Rebel celebration was on.
Moore’s 14 points led the Rebels, with Glass scoring all 7 of Todd Central’s 4th-quarter points on the way to 11 for the game.
Woodard led all scorers with 19 for the Cougars but was held to only 3 in the second half. After scoring 21 in the first meeting with the Rebels, including seven 3-pointers, Wood was held to only 6 on Wednesday.
Logan County 20 8 12 5 — 45
Todd Central 10 19 10 7 — 46
Logan County (4-12) — Woodard 19, Sells 8, Wood 6, Larson 5, Sweeney 3, Clinard 2, Delrosal 2
Todd Central (7-11) — Moore 14, Glass 11, Andrews 7, M. Johnson 6, Burgess 4, Brandon 2, Rager 2
