Hawks are District Champs

 MUNFORDVILLE — LaRue County senior point guard Kelton Ford had a game-high 22 points to go along with seven rebounds and a game-high six assists as he led the top-seeded Hawks to a 65-49 win over the second-seeded Caverna Colonels on Friday night in the championship game of the Boys’ 18th District Basketball Tournament at Hart County.

Junior forward Kody Key-Close, who scored six of his team’s first nine points, finished with 15 points and five rebounds for the Hawks (20-7), who will enter next week’s 5th Region Tournament at Hart County riding a six-game winning streak. Senior shooting guard Dustin Coulter approached a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds.

The title was the Hawks’ district-record fifth straight and 19th overall. LaRue County has won the teams’ last four meetings in the district final.

Freshman guard Mason Faulkner led Caverna (17-13) with a team-high 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. He was 8-of-8 from the foul line, but just 4-of-22 from the field after starting 1-of-2. Senior forward Josh Davis added 10 points and five rebounds off the bench, while sophomore guard Trevor Stephens had nine points and three rebounds.

The Hawks opened up a 24-13 lead with 4:50 remaining in the first half after a pair of free throws from Ford. However, Faulkner scored seven points as the Colonels erased that deficit in a span of just 89 seconds.

Ford had five points and four assists as LaRue County opened the second half with a 17-2 run as the Colonels went 7:41 between field goals.

LaRue County went on a 10-0 run over the first 2:10 of the fourth quarter to extend its lead to 55-34 – the first of its three 21-point leads.