With their ninth win in a row, the Adair County Indians (29-5), find themselves in the 5th Region Boys basketball finals. With a winning score of 56-49, the Indians soared against the Caverna Colonels (17-13).
Right out of the gate, the Indians played hard. Today’s star was senior guard Connor Loy, who had a triple-double, leading the scorers from both teams with a sturdy 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Following him was senior forward Brayton Coomer, who chipped into the total with 12 points of his own. Junior guard Dawson Gilbert widened the Indians’ lead with nine swished-in points. Along with Senior forward Isaiah Cochran weaved six more points into the tally. Accompanied by senior guard Lane Grant adding two, along with the rest of the team. It seemed that the Indians struggled to gain any momentum in rebounding the ball. The Colonels claimed a 10-4 rebounding advantage against the Indians. Leaving the opening stanza score to be 15-10 in the Colonels’ favor.
Bursting into the second quarter, the Indians refused to give up, and with the clock ticking, major plays were made. Tied 19-19, with just under 4:15 left in this block, Loy was able to convert two free throws. Alongside those points, he also capped another foul shot shortly after, bringing the score to a firm 22-19. Following a time-out from head coach Deron Breeze, the team had a newfound determination. Adair County outscored Caverna 21-5 in the second quarter overall. Battling the clock, the Indians pushed themselves into the lead 31-20 as the halftime buzzer rang throughout the dome.
With halftime over, both teams knew this half would either make or break their season. The Caverna Colonels opened up the third chunk with a physical 6-0 run. The clock holding 4:08, the score stood at 34-26, still in the Indians’ advantage. Senior forward Brayton Coomer was able to tally two points with two minutes left, bringing the end of the stanza to 40-35, the Indians clinging onto their five-point margin.
“The biggest thing, was when they were trying to press,” Breeze said. “We didn’t turn the basketball over, we didn’t have any mistakes. Though they were also trying to guard hard, we played special against them, (Caverna), to keep that lead.”
Pushing harder than ever before, this was the quarter to pull out all of the stops. Coomer once again headed for the rim after a quick transition bucket, which made the score 46-41 with 3:16 left in the game. Quickly the time dwindled, and with only 1:18 to go, Coomer passed the ball to senior guard Lane Grant for a smooth layup. Extending Adairs’ lead to six. After Caverna missed a late free throw, the Indians secured the ball. Soon rounding out the score to 51-48. Loy went back to the line and nailed a pair of late charity shots and then, with under a minute left, the Adair County Boys secured their spot in the region finals with an ending score of 56-49.
“We played really good,” Conner Loy said. “As long as we win that’s all that matters, now we just need to focus and move on to the next one.”
Adair County shot 19-46 from the field, and their largest lead was held with 12 points. Totaling 17 assists throughout the game, alongside their 5 turnovers.
However, the journey to Rupp isn’t secured just yet. The Indians play tonight, March 18th, in the Roby Dome in Marion County at 6 p.m. CST. The Adair County team will face North Hardin (21-9), who advanced to the 5th Region Boys basketball finals after upsetting Green County in the semifinals 63-60.
(By: Jenna George)