Key and Ford take spotlight at Green

Senior guard Kyle Sheeran scored 19 points Jan. 3 to lead four players in double figures as the Hawks cruised past the Campbellsville Eagles, 79-27.
“This was a game in which a lot of our bench players got some good minutes,” said Coach Paul Childress.
“Campbellsville is young and a little down right now. We came out a little slower than I wanted, but after a quick timeout we picked up our intensity. We did what we needed to do in this game. I knew we could turn them over with our pressure. The key was converting those into points.”
Sophomore guard Kody Key got the Hawks on track early by finishing layups off the press, said Childress. Key had two steals.
“We continued to play hard and finished the half with a 45-15 lead. The second half was much of the same. Our focus was execution and we were able to do that at times … We had balanced scoring tonight and were able to share the basketball pretty well.”
Sheeran sank three of seven 3-point attempts, had four assists and three steals, while junior guard Kelton Ford had 12 points, five steals and four assists.
Senior guard Kyle Meredith chipped in with 11 points, two assists and two steals. Jackson Venegas scored eight and had seven rebounds off the bench. Gabe Shirley scored five.
Tyler Howell added four points and nine rebounds. Dustin Coulter added three; Kyle DeVary scored two.
The Hawks outdistanced the Eagles 21-10 at the end of the first quarter and held them to single digits in the remaining three quarters.
Green ground
Ford and Key each recorded double-doubles as the visiting LaRue County Hawks dispatched 18th District rival Green County in a 76-41 rout Friday night.
Ford totaled 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Key had 18 points and 10 boards. Howell added 10 rebounds to give the Hawks (12-2 overall, 3-0 district) three players with 10 rebounds or more.
Ford, who also had eight steals and seven assists, nearly finished with a quadruple-double. He went 10-of-20 from the field and scored most of his points off steals.
Key went 8-of-10 from the field and 2-of-2 from 3-point range – scoring 10 points and grabbing five rebounds in the second half.
Senior forward Jonathon Firquin returned from a left knee injury suffered during late December. He finished with four points and and two rebounds and Coach Childress said he will slowly ease him back into the rotation.  
Winners of six straight, the Hawks left no doubt in this one – jumping out to a 10-0 lead in the first five minutes. They increased that advantage to 15 points at halftime and 25 by the end of three quarters as they sent the Dragons (2-13, 1-3) to their fifth consecutive loss. They forced Green County into 24 turnovers and 15-of-51 shooting (29.4 percent).
Editor Linda Ireland contributed to this story.

Photo by Leonard Vanmeter

Kelton Ford’s basket gave LaRue County a 26-10 lead in the second quarter against Green County.

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