The Straughn Tigers held off a late comeback attempt from the Montgomery Catholic Knights for a 60-55 sub-regional victory Tuesday night in Straughn.

 

Brice Scott put the Tigers on the board first with a 3-pointer. Reggie Gee tied the game up at 3-3 moments later. Knights’ Brandon Barker hit a 3-pointer to put them up 6-3. Rollin Kinsaul cut the lead to 1 with a strong drive through traffic, and finished off with a layup. Kinsaul got an assist on the Tigers’ next trip down the court when he hit Austin Bozeman under the basket for an easy layup to give them a 7-6 lead. The Knights took their last lead of the game with three minutes left in the first. Tucker Lawless gave the Tigers a 9-8 lead with 40 seconds left in the first period, and they wouldn’t trail again in the contest. Johnathan Driver capped off the scoring in the first period with a layup to give the Tigers an 11-8 lead heading into the second period.

 

The Tigers opened up the second period with a 7-0 run, and were on an 11-0 run going back to the first period. Lawless buried a 3-pointer to get the second period started. Kinsaul added 2 points, and Lawless got 2 more points off an assist from Kinsaul. The scoring run put the Tigers up 18-8 with just over five minutes left until halftime. Marshall Farley got the next 4 points for the Tigers. Driver closed out the scoring with 5 points in the final minute of the second period. The Knights attempted one last shot before the buzzer, but the shot was met with a thunderous block from Lawless that ignited the home crowd. The Tigers led 28-14 at halftime.

 

Scott opened up the third period with a quick layup. The Knights then went on an 11-0 scoring run that cut deep into the Tigers’ lead. With just under five minutes the Knights trailed 30-25. Bozeman ended the Knights’ run with a layup to give the Tigers a 32-25 advantage. Farley added 2 points with a 2-for-3 effort from the free throw line. Kinsaul added 2 more points, and Driver hit a 2-pointer with five seconds left in the third to give the Tigers a 38-33 lead going into the final stanza.

 

Driver started the fourth period off with a layup. The Knights then got 4 straight points from Reggie Jackson, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 40-37.  Kinsaul and Driver got the next 4 points. Lawless gave the Tigers a 46-39 lead with a put back off a missed free throw. A few minutes later, Lawless added 2 more points from the free throw line to stretch the lead to 8 points. Kinsaul scored the next 6 points for the Tigers, and the Tigers led 55-49 with just over one minute left to play. Moments later Scott added an uncontested layup off an assist from Kinsaul for a 57-49 lead. The Knights scored 6 straight points to cut the lead down to 2 points with 48 seconds left on the clock. The Tigers worked the clock, and Scott was fouled with 13 seconds. The foul sent Scott to the line for double bonus free throws. Scott hit the front end of the series, but failed to convert the second. With 13 seconds left the Knights sprinted down the court, and attempted a game tying 3-pointer that was no good. Lawless soared up for the rebound, and was immediately fouled with 6 seconds left on the clock. Lawless converted both free throws to give the Tigers a 60-55 victory over the Knights.

 

Lawless, Driver and Kinsaul led the Tigers with 13 points each.

 

“We came and did what we had to do early,” Tigers’ head coach Rusty Andrews said. “We didn’t exactly play well down the stretch, but our senior leadership stepped up and gutted it out. Those last 20 seconds were war. I’m so proud of the seniors they stepped up big at the end just like they have done all year.”