Breathitt gets No. 6 at Buckhorn
By James David Fugate
Voice Sports
Breathitt County put four players in double figures Tuesday night at Buckhorn as the Bobcats overpowered the Wildcats for a 73-64 victory. The win, the Bobcats’ fourth consecutive, pushes Breathitt’s record to 6-1 going into Friday night’s game with Jackson City.
Junior Justin Hollan scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the second half to lead the Bobcats, and Aaron ‘Bull’ Combs along with Brandon Hayes poured in 16 points apiece which propelled Breathitt over a pesky Buckhorn team. Hayes scored nine of his points in the final quarter, which saw the Bobcats build a somewhat comfortable lead midway through the final frame.
Junior center Travis Smith established his presence early in the game with eight first-quarter points and finished with 10. Freshman Dakota Ritchie came off the bench to add six points to spell Smith and contributed six points in the process.
Breathitt trailed at the end of the first quarter, 14-17, but fought back in the second to take a 33-31 lead to intermission. The Wildcats played tough behind a strong performance by Andy Blank who finished with 18 points, and Wildcat big man Zack Gay put in 13 in the losing effort. The Bobcats extended their lead in the third quarter and led by four, 48-44, going to the last quarter. Freshman point guard Nick Noble did a good job against the Buckhorn press, helped control the tempo of the game, and was four of five at the line.
Once again it was Breathitt’s long bench and superior conditioning that paid off, as Coach Banks’ Bobcats wore down the Wildcats, especially in the last minutes. Sophomore Ryan Allen came off the bench to have a good floor game and hit two free throws in the fourth, and freshman Channing Fugate provided quality minutes, proving that the Bobcats are nearly two deep at every position.
Breathitt was 14 of 20 at the free throw line, and more importantly was 13 of 17 in the closing minutes, as Buckhorn continually sent the Bobcats to the line in hopes of closing the gap. The Wildcats weren’t too bad at the stripe either hitting on 17 of 24.
Breathitt entertains Jackson City Friday night and will be participating in the Hazard Invitational Tourney after Christmas, December 27 and 28. Breathitt returns home to the Coliseum on January 5 and 6 where they will take on Letcher Central and Knott Central, respectively.
