The Russellville Panthers didn't look like the same team they had been in their first two games of the First Southern National Bank.Roy's Bar-B-Q
Christmas Classic Wednesday. After struggling for consistency in wins over Caverna and Central Hardin, the Panthers were sensational at times in
blowing out a good Ohio County team 79-55 at the LCHS gym.
Earlier in the afternoon, the Logan County Cougars had come from behind to beat another competitive team, Central Hardin, 50-48 for third place.
Russellville 79, Ohio County 55
Russellville actually took it easy on the Eagles in the second half. The Panthers led 58-40 after three quarters, and Pardue was able to let his bench
get valuable experience. All 12 Panthers saw action and eight of them played at least 12 and a half minutes with a ninth getting 8:50 playing time.
Point guard D.J. Quarles led the way with 19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals. Davonta Bryant had 13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 4
steals. Damien Elam added 10 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. Trevor Clark had 8 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and a blocked shot. His
backup, Darrin Murphy, had 5 points, 5 rebounds and a blocked shot in less than nine minutes of playing time.
Also scoring were Kevin Temple with 8, Victor Hampton and Justin Bollenbecker 6 each, and Davis Pardue 4. Joining them on the floor were Ryan Bibb and
freshmen Zach Hines and Jordan Kennedy.
The most impressive stat was in turnovers. RHS commited only 11 while forcing the Eagles into 27 miscues. The Panthers also took the assist category
15-6.
Heath Garner totaled 12 points and 10 rebounds while Kellen Fleener had 8 points and 5 rebounds for the Eagles.
Russellville improved its record to 9-2 while Ohio County fell to 9-3.
Sharing Classic All-Academic Team honors representing the Panthers were Quarles and Bibb.
Logan County 50, Central Hardin 48
Coach Harold Tackett said he wanted his team to play tough competition in this tournament, and the Cougars faced three quality teams. Brett Sowell's
free throws late in the game made the difference as Logan won two of the games and finished third in the Classic.
The Bruins led 17-9 and 33-25 at the first two stops, but Tackett's team pitched almost a perfect quarter in the third stanza, outscoring the guests
13-3 to take a two-point lead into the final quarter.
Troy Graham had 18 points and 3 steals to lead the Cougars. He averaged 22 points per game in the tournament. The junior forward hit 7 of 9 field goal
attempts in this game, but he was much like most of the rest of the team at the foul line, going 4 of 13 from the stripe. As a team, the Cougars were a
dismal 11 of 28 at the line, but Central wasn't much better at 8 of 21. That made Sowell's cashing in on those last two attempts crucial.
Twin Lancaster scored 12 points and had 8 rebounds. He averaged 13 rebounds per game in the tournament and scored in double figures all three days.
Sowell had 10 points and 5 assists.
Also scoring for Logan were Seth McReynolds with 7 points, Derrod Blakey with 2 and Reuben Rawlings-Watson with 1. Phillip Stratton, Tyler Davenport,
Jonathon Barbee, Torin Graham also saw action.
Center Joseph Harmon was the Bruins' only double-figure scorer with 16 before he fouled out. Matt Nichols had 11 rebounds as the Bruins out-rebounded
the Cougars 34-27. Central had 14 assists to Logan's 8, but the winners made only 16 turnovers as compared to the Bruins' 25. Logan scored 21 points
off those turnovers as compared to the Bruins' 9 points resulting from Cougar turnovers.
The Cougars ended the 2009 part of their season with a 7-7 record. Central Hardin (3-9) had to play without Nolan Todd, who was injured the night
before in the Bruins' 3-point loss to eventual champion RHS.
Taylor Wells was named to the Classic All-Academic Team representing the Cougars.
Elliott County finished fifth by hanging on for a 64-62 win over Clarksville Northwest. Union City, Tenn. took seventh place, beating Caverna 77-50.