After a narrow overtime win on Tuesday night over Mount Vernon, the McCracken County Mustangs had a much easier night Thursday, defeating the visiting Christian County Colonels, 78-42. A fast tempo from start to finish highlighted the Mustangs strengths of beating their opponents down the floor and hitting the rim before they knew what hit them.
“We like these up-tempo games,” McCracken County head coach Dustin Roberts said. “Christian likes to play fast and get up and pressure you, so that allowed our guards to really get downhill and score.”
Both teams presented a strong defensive front, trapping the inbound pass and making the offense stretch get the ball past midcourt. While neither team has much trouble getting through the trap, the Mustangs had a much easier time getting the ball through the cylinder than the Colonels.
The Mustangs not only made quick work getting to the basket, they were also unselfish in their play, getting 10 players in on the scoring action.
“Our guys moved the ball really well tonight,” Roberts said. “I thought at Mount Vernon that was a little bit of an issue, but I thought we came out tonight, moved the ball a lot better and we got a lot easier buckets because of it.”
Coming at no surprise to anyone familiar with First Region hoops, senior Miles Woodfork would take his talents to the rim and past the Christian County defense over and over again. His quick feet led to a 19-point performance that also saw multiple trips to the charity stripe.
Aaron Adams followed with 13 points and Maxx Tanner rounded up the double-digit scorers with 10 points.
A 10-point, 20-10 first quarter lead would kick start the night for the Mustangs and they never looked back. The lead would steadily get larger as time went on, but with the intensity displayed from both sides, the game seemed much closer than it was.
The Mustangs bumped that lead to 39-24 at the halftime break, and while they held a steady lead all night, the Mustangs coaching staff emphasized that the Colonels weren’t a team to overlook.
“Every game is a big worry for us. We want to make sure our guys are locked in,” Roberts said. “There are teams across the state that are slipping up in games where they are favored to win and we wanted to make sure that we weren’t one of those teams tonight.”
As the Mustangs looked deeper down their bench and the role players found their comfort, the lead only continued to grow. A 24-point third quarter would be the highlight of the night for the Mustangs and their highest scoring quarter. Woodfork and Jackson Klope led that quarter with six points each, leading McCracken County to coast in the fourth to their 78-42 victory.
Behind their double-digit scorers, Garrett Miller added seven, Klope and Jay Martin each had six, Jackson Diaz had five, Owen Grogan and Carter Hawes each had four, with Caden Feldner and Kaden Boyd added two each.
Only five games remain on the Mustangs regular season schedule with four of them being First Region opponents. Coach Roberts says this last stretch is key as it doesn’t get any easier from here, knowing who they have ahead.
“It’s going to be really tough,” Roberts said. “We start with a district opponent in St. Mary on Monday then turn around to Murray on Tuesday will obviously be tough. Friday at Graves doesn’t get any easier, then Hoptown and Calloway the following week. There’s just no easy games in Region One, so our guys will just have to continue to stay focused and improve on the things that we maybe haven’t been as good at.”