After playing a game that had every person in the gym on their feet, the Adair County Indians
(30-5) won the 5th Region Boys’ basketball finals against North Hardin (21-10). The Indians left
it all out on the floor, defending their first, and capturing their second consecutive regional
championship with a final score of 62-48.
The crowd was filled with anxious anticipation, as the ball was tossed into the air for tipoff, and
the game was on. Bringing out the Indians’ best was 5th Region Player of the Year, senior
guard Connor Loy who scored 17 points, really cementing the team’s chemistry. Senior forward
Lane Grant followed him, swishing 12 points directly into the net. Junior guard Dawson Gilbert
and senior forward Isaiah Cochran both tallied 11 points. Senior forward Brayton Coomer
chipped in nine points. Senior guard Carter White wrote two more ticks into the scorebook after
coming in off of the bench. With 1:51 left in the first quarter, the Indians led by eight at a firm 15-
7 score. By the end of the frame, Adair County had continued to push and ended the first of four
increments ahead, leading 17-10.
After a brief meeting on the sidelines, the Indians kept chugging in the second stanza. However,
North Hardin decided it was not the time to slack. They opened this chunk with two straight
baskets, but Adair refused to slow down. As the grind-out quarter continued Loy diced his way
through traffic and kept Adair’s momentum with 2:36 left on the clock, bringing the suddenly
tight score to 25-22. Continuing to go basket-for-basket, the Trojans closed in on Adair, ending
the first half with 29-27.
“We talked about it, (the first half),” head coach Deron Breeze said. “We know there are a
couple of things we have to clean up. We made some mental errors, and a couple of decisions
we made weren’t the best. We aren’t going to keep making those mistakes, going into the rest
of the game especially.”
Once again, with a nice locker room talk from coach Breeze, the Indians pulled together a new
strategy to clean the game up. Above the hardwood, the scoreboard lit up the Roby Dome with
the time of 5:43, left in the third quarter, and a score of 36-29 in Adair’s favor. This period was
the one for plays for the Indians, kickstarting their official path to game victory. Grant scored a
three-pointer, along with another basket. Cochran came up to the bucket with two sturdy layups.
The buzzer sounded, entering the teams into the final chapter of the boys’ basketball final, with
an overall score of 42-38, the Indians still having the upper hand.
However, this quarter was important for aspects beyond team points, senior Connor Loy scored
the 3,000th point of his career with just over two-minutes left in the third period.
“It’s pretty cool,” Loy said. “Coach Breeze had me playing in the 7th grade, and you have to give
some of the credit to him. He got us the regional championship back-to-back, that truly is the
biggest thing.”
With one more section to go, Adair County never planned on letting their guards down. Coomer
tilted two quick buckets and a free throw in the Indians’ favor, with 5:11 left in the game, and
made it a 47-39 margin. After an Adair time-out, the Indians managed their largest lead of the
game of 15 points, the team pulled ahead to a far gap of 55-40. Following a Loy basket, Gilbert
sinking two free throws, and a quick steal by Grant, these flurries of ferocious plays solidified
their ticket to Rupp Arena. The final score of the night reflected a strong outing 62-48, as the
Adair County Indians return to the state tournament once more.
“Back-to-back,” Cochran said. “I transferred here my junior year, and my first year I went to
state. Then you know, we had to make sure it wasn’t a coincidence so we went back-to-back.”
This game was one for the books, in more ways than one. Four Adair County Indians were
added to the All-Regional Tournament team. With all of them being seniors, the ones selected
were Brayton Coomer, Isaiah Cochran, Connor Loy, and Lane Grant.
Adair outproduced North Hardin for the game and shot 57 percent from the field, going 24-42 for
the game. While they also had 11 assists, and rebounded 22-18.
Now the Indians will represent the boy’s 5th region on Kentucky’s biggest stage, in the KHSAA
Sweet 16. Adair County will play against the 4th Region champion, which may be the Bowling
Green Purples/Clinton County Bulldogs. This game will be held at Rupp Arena in Lexington,
Kentucky. The game will be the opening round of the Sweet 16 tournament, at 10 a.m. CST on
Wednesday, March 26th.
(By: Jenna George