Christian Heritage pulls away early to defeat Taylor County, move on to Sweet 16

Published 8:15 pm Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Christian Heritage School’s time in the 2024 boys Class A DII playoffs started off on a good note.

After a slow start in the first quarter, the Lions exploded late in the first and didn’t slow down until the game was well in hand.

Christian Heritage (21-5) defeated Taylor County (15-14) 71-51 Wednesday night in the first round of the state playoffs. A trip to Warren County is up next for the Lions in the Class A DII Sweet 16. The Lions will play Warren County on Saturday at 4 p.m.

The game was tied at 9 midway through the first quarter when the Lions made their move.

A 13-2 close to the quarter, propelled by 3-pointers from Jax Abernathy, Isaac Plavich and Cash Hare, gave the Lions a 22-11 lead at the end of it.

Christian Heritage kept it going in the second quarter, with Hare capping an extended 21-5 run that put Christian Heritage up 30-14 in the second quarter.

After taking a timeout to calm the Christian Heritage run, Taylor County’s offense came to life enough to minimize Christian Heritage’s halftime lead down to 12 at 38-26.

After the brief lull in Christian Heritage’s efforts to pull away, the Lions resumed in earnest in the third quarter.

A pair of Abernathy free throws put the Lions up 20 for the first time at 48-28 with 3:06 in the third.

Abernathy put in 17 of his 29 points in the second half, knocking down jumpers, making under-control moves to the basket for slick layups and hitting free throws when Taylor County was forced to foul.

A 19-7 scoring margin in the third quarter left Christian Heritage ahead 57-33.

Both teams began bringing on substitutes midway through the fourth.

Hare added 17 points for the Lions, scoring 13 of those in the first half to help Christian Heritage’s first offensive explosion before Abernathy got going.

Plavich put in 10 points, and Dontae Crowder scored nine.

Christian Heritage marches on to the Class A DII Sweet 16. The Lions were ranked No. 6 in the classification in the final rankings, but are the second seed out of Region 7-A DII thanks to a 64-60 loss to Greenforest Christian, the top team in the state, in the region tournament finals. Warren County, the second-round opponent, is ranked eighth.

The Lions faced a similar situation last season, also falling to Greenforest in the region finals and being forced to go on the road in the second round of the playoffs. A loss to Macon County ended Christian Heritage’s season in the Sweet 16 a year ago.