In a game in which Madison County led by as many as 21 points in the second half, the Mountaineers had to withstand a late fourth quarter charge by Page County in order to secure the 75-61 victory at Madison on Friday night.
Taylor Fincham led Madison County early, scoring 11 of his 18 points in the first quarter. His inside presence was a force early on, as Madison’s guards fed him the ball near the rim and Fincham also collected a number of offensive rebounds.
“He kind of feeds off of our guards being able to break the defense down a little bit,” said Madison County coach Ben Breeden. “That makes it easier for him to catch the ball with a little more space. He did a really good job of catching it and finishing it, and also getting some offensive rebounds. He was battling. He played tough tonight and I’m very proud of him.”
Page’s Ricky Campbell kept the Panthers in it in the first quarter, however, scoring eight of his fourteen points in the opening frame.
At the end of the first quarter, Madison held an 18-15 lead.
The Mountaineers dominated in the second quarter, outscoring Page 21-10 to extend their lead to fourteen. Jackson Taylor, who finished with a game-high 22 points, scored seven points in the second quarter, including a three-pointer during Madison’s big run. On the defensive end, Madison held Page’s usually hot shooters to just one three-pointer in the first half.
“I thought we did a great job of making it tough on them,” Breeden said. “Try to make them uncomfortable a little bit.”
At halftime, Madison led 39-25 and the Mountaineers continued their strong play in the first part of the third quarter. After Jacob Williams made a three for Page, Madison’s Trey Deane and Leroy Yates hit back-to-back threes, followed by a breakaway layup for Taylor to give Madison a 51-30 lead, their largest of the game.
Page did not quit, however, as Jacob Williams responded with two straight three-pointers of his own to get the Panthers back in the game.
Madison led 55-39 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Page turned up the pressure with the press, causing some Madison turnovers and leading to easy baskets for the Panthers. Caden Good hit a three and Dylan Hensley scored a layup, part of a 7-0 Page run which drew the Panthers to within 10 points just two minutes into the fourth quarter.
“We just needed to be a little smarter with the basketball,” Breeden said. “They turned up the pressure. We kind of lost track of the shooters in transition and we turned the ball over a few times and they made us pay by hitting some threes.”
After a Madison timeout, the Mountaineers responded with an 8-0 run, including threes by Dean Breeden and Taylor to rebuild the lead to 15 points.
“We got the ball to Dean and Jackson and they were able to break the pressure and we got some good looks and easy buckets there,” Breeden said.
Behind nine fourth quarter points from Canaan Pierce, Page made one last run in the final minutes to make it 67-59 with under two minutes remaining, but Taylor got loose from the Page press for an open layup to ice the game.
Both teams are set to begin postseason play next week in the Region 2B tournament.
