It was not the way in which the Elizabethtown boys’ basketball program had expected to begin Monday’s 5th Region Tournament semifinal, but the Panthers ended the evening in a place that has become familiar over the last few seasons.
Taking on 20th District Tournament champion Campbellsville, Elizabethtown began to separate itself in the second quarter on the way to a 54-31 victory at Nelson County High School. The win advanced the Panthers to the region championship game and ensured they would get a chance at their third straight 5th Region title.
“We owe a lot to our defense tonight. I think we held (Campbellsville) to a few quarters where they didn’t get double digits, so our defense did play well,” Elizabethtown coach James Haire said. “We had some guys step up. What’s really remarkable right now is at the beginning of the year, nobody would’ve ever thought we’d be in this position right now, losing what we lost last year and having one person who had any Varsity experience whatsoever. It’s really a tribute to all those guys working hard and staying together.”
Elizabethtown and Campbellsville combined for just nine points in the first quarter as the Panthers finished it up 5-4.This had expanded to a 21-10 Elizabethtown lead by halftime, led by an eight-point performance from Ayden Evans in the second quarter.
Up 31-18 by the end of the third quarter, the Panthers closed out the game with a 23-point fourth-quarter performance to seal the win.
“We started off pretty slow. We were supposed to be pressing for like the first six possessions, but we didn’t get into it. Coach Haire got in us and we picked it up from there,” Evans said. “We started running our sets through all the way and we got what we wanted at the end.”
Evans led the team with 14 points. Trey Durbin followed with 10 points. Ben Ryan added seven points, just ahead of Alandre Murphy and Greg Hall with six points and five points, respectively. Wyatt McAdams brought in four points. Max Peeler, Evan Shelton, Alex Evans and Landon Sanford all had two points.
Elizabethtown (16-13) will face John Hardin (24-9) in the region final at 7:30 pm tonight. The two teams last met in the 17th District Tournament final, a game the Bulldogs won 80-76 on Feb 26.
The game will be played at Nelson County High School.
Matt Tyson can be reached at 270-505-1425 or mtyson@thenewsenterprise.com.
