Bluegrassrivals

Taking to the floor without second leading scorer Dante Howard, the Murray High Tigers stumbled out of the gate against First Region foe Hickman County Friday night before falling 63-57 at Tiger Gym.
That seemed to hurt them early as the Falcons stormed out of the gate, going up six in the first quarter and pushing ahead by as much as 11 as the half progressed. That said, the things that plagued Joey Adair’s squad early on - poor defense and a knack for giving up offense rebounds - was exactly what did them in.
“We played terrible defense in the first half, dug ourselves in a hole and you can't expect after (doing that) that we're going to be able to come out against every team,” Adair said. “We've got to learn to close out games because we're not doing it. I thought offensive rebounds were terrible and our execution on making sure we boxed guys out was not good. “
Still despite missing Howard, who injured his ankle in practice Thursday and is listed as day to day, the Tigers showed some resiliency in the second half, fighting back from a 10 point halftime deficit to reclaim the lead on a Kendall Deese basket with 2:23 left in the third quarter.
Though Deese would go on to finish the game as the team’s leading scorer with 14, junior guard Logan Foster would play arguably the most important role in the comeback effort, connecting on big three after big three down the stretch to keep things close.
That said, Hickman would pull ahead by five heading to the fouth, but Foster would make his presence felt once again, draining a long triple from the volleyball line to make things interesting. Deese would give Murray the lead back with two free throws seconds later, but from there the comeback bid would stall and the Falcons would walk away with their 11th win of the season.
“Logan played good and in the second half he shot the ball, well but of course shooting isn't everything,” Adair said. “We’ve got to play defense as a team and I didn't think we did that (last night) very well. That was the turning point in the game after we came back, worked hard and fought. You can't give up offensive rebounds and when you do you're in trouble.”
As for Hickman, Aaron Harpole and Kedrian Thomas picked up 18 and 19 points respectively, but Adair said it was Eric Kerney that facilitated the duo, collapsing the lane on the drive, to give open looks.
“Kerney got to the lane alot and Harpool lived on that,” Adair said. “It's a credit to him because he made shots,(but) the issue with him scoring was still Kerney. He goes to the middle and dishes out to open players and they're there. Thomas just hit some big shots on us (as well).”
Still, the Tiger head man noted the biggest thing his team has to take away from a game like last night is how important their defensive effort will be. Without it, things won’t get any better.
“Unless we play defense for four quarters, we're not winning ballgames,” he said.
Murray High will get their next chace as they travel to Marshall County today for a 6 p.m. tilt to close out their Fourth District schedule.

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