By CHARLIE HUST
The WCHS Trojans showed the grit and poise of a champion Monday night, rallying to beat Madisonville-North Hopkins 54-52 in an overtime thriller in the opening round of the Second Region Tournament at Union County High School in Morganfield.
With the score tied 50-all at the end of regulation, WCHS turned to its two leading scorers in the overtime to secure the victory. Zac Shoulders drained a 3-pointer from the corner to give the Trojans the lead for good. North’s Brennan Parish had hit a driving shot to open the extra period pushing the Maroons ahead 52-50. But Shoulder’s long-range bomb with 2:43 was the dagger that WCHS needed to grab the advantage. Fellow senior Mason Roland then added a free throw with 2.3 second left in overtime to set the final score.
“Wow, what a game!” stated WCHS head coach Jon Newton. “Both teams left everything out there on the floor. I thought our guys executed the game plan perfectly on defense. They really hurt us last time (regular season loss) by getting in the paint and getting easy buckets. We really made them work for their points and most of the time they settled for outside shots.”
Both teams started a bit slowly with Webster earning an 8-4 lead at the 4:10 mark of the first quarter on a Roland driving bucket. Madisonville closed the period with a basket from Jaiveon Eaves to trim the lead to 13-12.
Webster’s defensive strategy seemed to be in jeopardy in the second quarter as the Maroons caught fire with their long-range shooting. Packed in a tight 2-3 zone, the Trojans saw Madisonville drain five 3-pointers form four different players and build a 24-17 lead midway through the period.
David Stubblefield halted the run with a 3-pointer from the left wing to cut the lead to 25-21 with 3:23 left in the period but the Maroons closed out the first with a 30-25 lead.
The third quarter proved to be the Cayden Edmonson show as the 6-foot-7 junior center dominated play for WCHS, scoring 11 of his team-high 20 points to lead his squad to a 15-9 scoring advantage in the period and a slim 40-39 lead.
“Cayden was huge for us in the second half. He pumped confidence back into our kids at a time when we didn’t look very fluid in the half court (offense),” Newton added. “But we had guys step up and make big plays the entire game.”
Stubblefield gave the Trojans a 43-40 lead early in the fourth quarter after a steal and layup. That lead grew to 46-41 with 3:56 left in regulation on a short jumper from Roland.
But Webster got a bit sloppy with the ball and Madisonville took advantage with three straight steals and went on a 7-0 run to take a 47-46 lead under the two minute mark.
Edmonson hit a turnaround jumper in the paint to push WCHS back on top 48-47 with 1:15 left in the fourth quarter. Another Madisonville 3-pointer pushed the Maroons on top but Shoulders nailed a pair of free throws in the last seconds of regulation to send the game into overtime.
“Those were clutch free throws and they really built his confidence which led to him stepping up and knocking down that 3-pointer in overtime,” the WCHS coach said of Shoulders. “I’m just so proud of my guys. They battled and competed for 36 minutes last night and pulled out a hard-fought win. This is a special group of guys and I’m just blessed to be a part of it.”
Roland and Shoulders both finished with 12 points in the victory while Stubblefield added six points and Shawn House four.
Webster played Trigg County in the semi-final roud of the Regional on Tuesday night. Complete details will be in next week’s J-E. Henderson County trounced Crittenden County by 43 points in Monday’s other first round game.