Whitley County ran into an impressive Knoxville Catholic squad during its first game of the Grace Health Cumberland Falls Invitational, dropping a disappointing 88-59 decision on Tuesday.
The Colonels (7-3) were coming off a 1-1 effort in Florida last week but couldn’t get anything going against Knoxville Catholic.
Eric Swords’ squad led 19-16 entering the second quarter but was outscored, 72-40, the remainder of the game.
“Played a really good team today,” Whitley County coach Eric Swords said. “They were preseason top 25 in maxpreps national rankings. I thought we gave them all they wanted through the first three quarters. We had cut it to six with about four to go in the third.
“Their size and athleticism wore us down as the game went on,” he added. “I was disappointed with our transition D, and loved how many charges we took…but we got to take what we did well and continue to improve in our weak areas. Doesn’t get any easier as we battle Doss tomorrow so got to be ready to go.”
Whitley County trailed 38-26 at halftime, and 61-44 entering the fourth quarter.
The Colonels had no answer for Knoxville Catholic’s Deandra Lindsey, and Cade Murphy. Lindsey scored a game-high 31 points while Murphy added 19 points.
Ashton Reynolds, and Brayden Mahan each scored 17 points apiece for Whitley County. Evan Ellis also scored in double figures, finishing with 11 points.
