Christopher pulls away late from Hamco

Steve Dunford

CHRISTOPHER-  Free throw shooting wins basketball games.  The Bearcats were stellar at the line on Friday night down the stretch as they pull away from the Hamilton County Foxes 59-48.

There was a full house at “The Cave” on Friday Night as Christopher has been packing them in for the last few years and Hamilton County has always traveled well. Pictures pulled from FoxesFans.net video

This was a much closer game than the final indicated.  Christopher was up by 10 at times early in the first half, the Foxes cut it to one with about 4:48 to go.  Jared Curry hits a big three the next trip down the floor.  HamCo kept hanging around.  They were within one with a minute and some change left on the clock.

Hamilton County coach Jeremy Varner had this to say about Friday Night’s game “Our kids played hard tonight. We fought back from an early deficit and tied the game at one point in the second half. We missed some easy opportunities in the first half and the Bearcats cashed in on some easy transition offense.

The transition game of Kaleab Pedigo, Bradley Young, and Jared Curry was not there as much as the Foxes did a better job getting back on defense the second half.

I am going to add a little to coach Varner’s comments.  The Foxes have been in a lot of ball games to some very good teams.  They lost a couple of barn burners to Harrisburg and West Frankfort.  The Foxes have taken their lumps over the last couple years, as it has been lean times in McLeansboro.  Soon, they are going to get a W in one of the close games they have been in, and it will result in a few more.

There might be a few pixels but I love this shot. There is a battle of the boards, especially the Fox and Bradley Young.

I have watched this Foxes team several times on FoxesFans.net They are starting to remind me of the Curt Reed coached teams.  They play their guts out, are pesky on the defensive end and they never go away.  The half court, deliberate style of play was getting to Christopher some in the second half.  Waltonville was effective with it when they played at Christopher, the first time those two teams met.  This bunch from McLeansboro can sneak up on some teams at the BIT.

Christopher coach Eric Stallman gives  his team instructions during a timeout in the third quarter.

Bradley Young led the Bearcats with 19, Kaleb Pedigo added 16 to lead the Bearcats.  I have a shout out to Bryce Pratt.  In close games when Christopher has the lead, he has been deadly from the free throw line.  He went 6-6 down the stretch last night.  A lot of teams are “fouling the freshman”.  He came up big in the Sesser-Valier Holiday tournament in the Championship game against Waltonville.  I am going to give him the nickname “Cool Hand Luke”

Oakley Dial led all scores with 28 on the night.  Here is what coach Jeremy Varner said about the Foxes performance: