Rick Patrick: Greene Publishing, Inc.
Brandon Bailey (#32) goes airborne for a basket.
The Madison County High School (MCHS) Cowboys wasted little time in putting away the Hilliard High School Red Flashes on Thursday, Feb. 22 in the Regional Semi-final game in the Class 1A Basketball Tournament. By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Cowboys had dominated the Red Flashes on the way to a 71-26 victory.
The Cowboys scored from the three-point line on their first three possessions and hit four of their first four attempts from the three-point line to build an early lead over the visiting Red Flashes. At the end of the first quarter, the Cowboys were up 35-6. The Cowboys continued to mount pressure; and by intermission, had a comfortable 51-15 lead. With the clock continuously running throughout the second half, the Cowboys' scoring cooled slightly; and at the end of the third period, the Cowboys had a 67-22 lead. Neither team scored much in the final period as the Cowboys were content to run the clock while playing mostly players off the bench, giving those players valuable playing time.
Tre Adams led the Cowboys in scoring with 19 points and seven rebounds. Ken Hawkins was three-for-four from downtown on his way to scoring 13 points. Travis Jay chalked up another triple-double; scoring 11 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Chris Simmons also went three-for-four from “three-point land” to add 10 points to the Cowboys' score.
The Cowboys' win set up a rematch from last year's “Elite Eight,” Regional Final round, with the Hornets of Hawthorne High School. The Hornets have been a “Haw-thorne” in the side of the Cowboys for the past two seasons. Last year, the Hornets defeated the Cowboys to end their play-off run in the Regional Final game. The year before, it was Hawthorne who defeated the Cowboys in the Regional Semi-final game. As was the case last year, this match-up pits the number one team in the state with the number two team. However this year, it is the Hornets who are bringing a number one ranking to Cowboy Nation. The Regional Final game was played on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. Be sure to get your copy of Friday's Madison Enterprise-Recorder for full coverage of the game.