Royals top Panthers on cold shooting night

FLEMINGSBURG — While neither team was able to find any sort of rhythm, Mason County made enough plays down the stretch to continue their dominance over Fleming County Friday night at the Panthers Den.

With each team playing their first game in a high intensity environment, the jitters showed as the two combined to hit just 39 percent of their shots. Mason County’s defensive intensity and early jump got them out to an early lead they never gave up, taking the contest 59-48.

Terrell Henry was dominant throughout, scoring 30 points to go with 12 rebounds, scoring seven points during a vital 10-2 Royals run when things got within four points in the fourth.

“Made enough plays down the stretch to come out of here with a win. From an overall perspective, we know this first week of the season we’re nowhere near where we want to be,” Royals coach Brian Kirk said. “Obviously Fleming County isn’t either. Thought they played harder than we did in spurts.”

It was Henry putting up 17 points and eight rebounds in the first half, his last two points coming at the end of the half that got him rather excited and proving to be the most dominant player on the floor.

“Feel like we won the game because we had the best player in the gym. He proved that here tonight,” Kirk said.

The putback gave the Royals a 29-17 halftime lead, holding Fleming County to just six points in the second quarter.

The Panthers opened the second half with an 8-3 run, but a pair of Kristian Graham-Walton 3-pointers pushed the Royals lead back to 10 and comfortable. Walton would score eight points in the third, weathering the Panthers storm that got them within seven.

“This was kind of like the football matchup, I’m new here so not really used to the crowd and it kind of caught me off guard. I got in foul trouble early, coach told me I needed to be aggressive and play my style. My shot started falling and we started hitting shots and playing defense better,” Walton said.

The Royals took a 43-29 advantage into the fourth, but a 8-0 Panthers run made things interesting with 5:52 to play.

“Couldn’t be prouder of our kids and their effort, intensity and desire to compete. That’s all we talked about. We didn’t even talk about winning. It was 102-53 the last time we played these guys and that was about nine months ago. We had to fix that and thought our kids did that tonight. We didn’t win, but we certainly gave them their money’s worth and competed,” Panthers coach Buddy Biggs said.

Mason Butler stopped the bleeding with a triple, but Fleming County had one more run in them, getting within 46-42 on a Lucas Jolly layup with four minutes to play.

On their next possession, Seth Hickerson had a 3-point attempt go in and out, who else but Terrell Henry answering on the other end with a bucket.

The Panthers would get within five, but inched no closer as the Royals won their 24th game in the last 25 meetings with the Panthers.

After Henry’s 30-point effort, Walton ended with 11, Philip Bierley big on the glass with eight points and 13 rebounds as Mason County won the rebounding battle 40-32.

“Outside of that, we’re not playing to our standards of Mason County basketball. We’ve got to get back to the things that’s built this program over the course of the last four years. We’ve got some body language going on, some selfishness going on and that’s our job as coaches to figure that out. We’ll get to the bottom of it, but overall have to be pleased with a 2-0 start to the season,” Kirk said.

Jayden Argo finished with 20 points and seven rebounds for the Panthers, all seven of his rebounds coming on the offensive end.

Jolly added 10 for Fleming, who shot 20/54 from the field, 1/11 from three and 7/15 from the free throw line.

“Thought we gave the game away in the first half with our missed conversions in tight. But you got to give Mason some credit because they contested those shots. We’ve got to finish through contact a little bit better. Free throws were a killer tonight. Can’t do that against a great team like that tonight,” Biggs said.

Both teams have trips on the cheese wagon Saturday, Mason County headed to South Laurel to play in the 13th Region Media Network Ted Cook Classic to face Bell County at 4:30 p.m., Fleming County hitting the road to Fairview for a 2:30 p.m. tip.

ROYALS 59, PANTHERS 48

MASON COUNTY — 14-15-14-16 — 59

FLEMING COUNTY — 11-6-12-19 — 48

Scoring

Mason (59) — Henry 30, Walton 11, Bierley 8, Butler 5, Hamilton 3, Booker 2

Fleming (48) — Argo 22, Jolly 10, McKee 6, Hickerson 5, Hargett 3, High 2

Game Stats

Field Goals: Mason 19/46, Fleming 20/54

3-Pointers: Mason 6/24, Fleming 1/11

Free Throws: Mason 15/21, Fleming 7/15

Rebounds: Mason 40 (Bierley 13), Fleming 32 (Argo 8)

Assists: Mason 5, Fleming 9

Turnovers: Mason 15, Fleming 9

Steals: Mason 5, Fleming 8

Personal Fouls: Mason 16, Fleming 16

Records: Mason County 2-0, Fleming County 1-1