64 points. That is the number that Head Coach Anthony Babb harped on in post game as he praised his team but wanted to be clear why they came up short.
Lyon County was in town visiting the Tigers and Hopkinsville played about as well as they could. Only problem was in a 77-66 loss, they gave up 64 combined points to Travis Perry (31) and Jack Reddick (33).
You simply cannot do that and expect to win. Several coaches and fans remarked after the game.
That being said, the Tigers played about as well as could be expected otherwise.
Antonio Williams ended up with twenty-three points and sixteen rebounds. Maybe more impressively he kept Brady Shoulders busy and at bay. Shoulders managed just six points, four of which came in the final two minutes.
Bubba Leavell had twelve points but his most impressive feat was frustrating Perry all night defensively. I am not quite sure how many points of Perry’s thirty-one came when Leavell was off the floor or switched off of him, but I can tell you Perry had between seven and ten of his thirty-one after Leavell fouled out with just over two minutes left in the game.
Isaiah Manning and KeiMarion Smith combined for twenty-three, Smith had fourteen of it, while also Manning had ten rebounds.
This game went back and forth with several lead changes and ties for three and a half quarters. Ultimately the Tigers being without Daisjaun Mercer and his game changing speed and athleticism did hurt them. Also as I mentioned, Bubba Leavell fouled out with just over two minutes to go.
The Lions had built up a near double digit lead before the Tigers battled back to within four, 64-60, and after a Tiger miss coming back up the floor Leavell incurred his fifth foul on an, albeit, soft reach in call.
After that Hopkinsville just seemed disjointed trying to make full court passes and rushing shots. they did not have a PG in Leavell to level them out and keep their hope alive. That is when Shoulders had his four point burst with two big dunks and Perry hit a three and quickly got to the line at least twice to go on a mini run himself.
As I said, ultimately it is a 77-66 victory for Lyon County. From the outside that score is very misleading.
Coach Babb was very proud of his teams aggression and attacking mentality as well as their ability to deny Perry the ball for the majority of the game and slow it down when they needed to to keep Lyon County from getting out and running.
Next up the Tigers play host to Owensboro on Saturday. pre-Game will air at 3:15 on Newsradio 95.3 FM and 1230 AM WHOP.