By Les Dixon, The Times-Tribune, Corbin, Ky.
March 21--Christian County dug itself a 12-point hole entering the second quarter against Lexington Catholic in Friday's state quarterfinals, but teammates Anthony Hickey and Donovan Kates were bound and determined to lead the Colonels to a semifinal date with Louisville Eastern.
The duo combined to score 57 points, as Christian County outscored the Knights 57-40 during the game's final 24 minutes to pick up a 67-62 victory.
Just how good were the efforts of Hickey (31 points) and Kates (26 points)?
Hickey scored his team's first 15 points of the second quarter and first nine of the third period, while Kates hit a stretch where he scored 13 straight points that carried over from the third period into the fourth.
"It was a great basketball game," Kerry Stovall said. "It was a whale of a game. People got their moneys worth.
"I thought they saw what our kids were made of," he added. "I thought people thought we were down and out."
When asked what Stovall thought of Hickey's effort, he said, "On a scale of one to 1,000? About 1,000. He kept us in the ball game in the first quarter. He almost willed us back into the game at the beginning of the second half."
Christian County had no answer for Lexington Catholic's Scott Schuette during first quarter action, as the senior sharpshooter hit four three-pointers and scored 14 points to lead the Knights to a 22-10 lead.
The Colonels could never get on track during the first eight minutes and misfired on all five of their three-point attempts, while hitting only four-of-16 from the floor.
It was a different story for Lexington Catholic. After missing six of their first eight shots, the Knights hit six of their final seven shots to end the quarter.
Christian County's Hickey single-handily got his team back into the game during the second quarter by scoring the Colonels' first 15 points.
His layup with 2:28 left in the first half cut Christian County's deficit to two points (27-25), but Lexington Catholic's Bryan Woomer responded with a three-pointer, which triggered an 11-2 run to end the quarter while the Knights went into the locker room with a 38-27 lead.
Just when it seemed as if the Colonels had ran out of gas, Hickey took over the game again. He scored nine straight points to open the third quarter, while teammate Donovan Kates' three-pointer at the 5:21 mark gave Christian County a 41-39 lead.
The Knights wrestled back a 45-43 lead minutes later, but Kates' second three-pointer of the period gave the Colonels a slim 46-45 edge going into the fourth quarter.
Lexington Catholic turned the ball over seven times during the quarter and connected on three-of-eight from the floor.
Kates continued to remain red-hot from three-point range in the fourth quarter by hitting two straight to give his team a 52-47 edge with 6:31 left.
He wasn't finished, though. He then scored two more baskets, as Christian County's lead grew to 58-52.
Lexington Catholic fought back and got as close as three points on three different occasions, but the Colonels wrapped up the game by knocking down their free throws down the stretch.
So now, Christian County will play No. 1 ranked Eastern.
"Sounds like fun," Stovall said. "We've had our battles with Eastern. They are a great basketball team. It will be kind of like today -- nobody gave us a chance."
94th Annual Boys PNC/KHSAA Boys Sweet Sixteen At Rupp Arena
Lexington Catholic (62) -- Floyd 1, Woomer 6, Martin 15, Beckham 15, Schuette 25.
Christian County (67) -- Lewis 4, Hickey 31, Riley 4, Kates 26, Wheeler 2.
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