01/27/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG – When you get down to it, the game of basketball has many facets.

But winning is the most important.

The Galatia Bearcats on Monday night found a way to win their matchup against Gallatin County Hawks in the first game of the 74th annual Greater Egyptian Conference Tournament.

Senior forward Eli Hankins took a pass from senior teammate Connor Ammon and scored with :14 left to give the Bearcats a 58-56 victory over the Hawks.

It came after a turnover forced by the Galatia pressure.

The victory propelled Coach Zack Essex and his club to the semifinals on Friday night.

They will face tournament top-seed Hardin County who rolled past Pope County in the other Monday night quarterfinal.

“That (the press) is something we hadn't shown yet. We've had it in our pocket and we worked on it since Christmas and we're confident with it,” said Coach Essex. “We did it (late) just to see if we could get a quick turnover but I didn't expect us to get three straight, especially the one that won the game.”

Galatia overcame their own mistakes to pick up their seventh-consecutive triumph and improved to 15-6 on the season.

According to Coach Essex, the Hankins' bucket put the 6-3 senior at exactly 1,000-points for his career.

He let the Bearcats with 19-points while teammate senior Cameron Miller also ended up with 19.

Junior guard Will Puckett added 11 for Galatia as they head into their third game against Hardin County on Friday night after splitting two games with the Cougars so far in 2024-25.

Gallatin County and head coach Matthew Lawler, who entered the event as the number-four seed, fell into the consolation bracket despite 21-points from senior Grant Jackson and nine-points from senior Logan Brannon.

The Hawks were guilty of 27 turnovers in the contest, including two late miscues that allowed Galatia to score the final two baskets to overcome a 56-54 deficit in the final :31.

A shot attempt by Gallatin County's Jordan Montgomery missed at the buzzer as the Hawks fell to 4-14 overall.

Montgomery and teammate senior Alex Sauls each scored six-points in the defeat.

Both teams shot pretty well from the floor as Galatia hit for 25-of-51 overall, 3-of-12 from the 3-point line while Gallatin County checked in with a 22-of-42 performance, 6-of-16 from long range.

Gallatin also won the rebounding battle, 25-20.

HARDIN COUNTY 59, POPE COUNTY 44
The Cougars performance on Monday night was nothing to write home about but Coach Rodney Lane and his club advanced to the winners side of the bracket with the decisive win in which they never trailed.

Hardin County will now face Galatia on Friday after six different players scored points in the victory.

Five-eleven freshman guard Xavier Whooper scored 16-points and junior Christian Winter added 13 for the Cougars, who jumped out to a 15-6 early lead and 32-20 halftime edge.

Coach Jim Simmons' Pope County club got 22-points from senior Eli Presser and 11-points from Hunter Steele in the loss, which dropped the Pirates to 3-15 overall.

Hardin County improved to 8-8 on the season, with three of the wins over Pope County.

The Cougars hit 25-of-54 from the floor and 4-of-17 from the 3-point line compared to 16-of-50 and 2-of-11 from Pope.

Hardin County forced six of the Pirates 22-turnovers in the first quarter.

Whooper hit a pair of 3-pointers in the third quarter, part of an 18-point frame where the Cougars took their largest lead.

His second long range bomb made it 50-32 with under a minute left in the quarter.

Junior Caden Heberer scored eight-points for Hardin County, with two basket coming in the fourth quarter as the Cougars coasted home with the win.

“We have no seniors so we're playing a lot of juniors, sophomores and freshmen,” said Coach Lane. “The important thing is we get to play Friday night instead of Thursday night (consolation bracket).”