Head coach Robert “Radar” Patton watched in pleasure as his Hawks jumped out to an early lead and survived a brief Galatia second quarter run to earn the road win.

“We understand that they (Galatia) are going to key on Drone-y (Andrew Drone) and all the teams are going to key on him and that is ok because we do have more than one weapon,” explained Coach Patton. “He (Drone) is a big weapon but Hish (Daine) came through tonight and it has been a different guard for us every night. And that is what we are looking for – balance.”

The Bearcats were led by Denton Reed with 13-points but this 5-foot-11 senior guard hurt his right ankle midway through the third quarter and was lost for the game.

Without Reed on the floor – the Bearcats never made a serious second half run as their record slipped to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the league.

“We tried to play a guy in front and a guy behind him (Drone) but the Hish kid came out and started hitting those 3's,” said Galatia head coach Bob Belford. “They (Gallatin County) shot the ball really well tonight and that took us away from our game plan.”

Hish got rolling from the beginning on the outside as the Hawks showed a lot of patience in looking for a good shot.

A very good sign for a team composed of mostly underclassmen.

He hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first two and a half minutes and hit 1-of-2 free throws in that run.

Instead of trying to force the ball into Drone – Gallatin County worked the ball around the perimeter to get open shots.

Six-foot-two junior Andrew Cox also scored a bucket in the 9-0 run to open the game which forced Galatia head coach Bob Belford to burn a timeout.

“We are not one-dimensional. We have Drone inside and he is a heck of a ball player who gets better every day,” Coach Patton added. “But we do have balance. We have other kids that can step up.”

Reed got Galatia on the board finally on a drive to the basket with a reverse move around Drone with 5:01 left in the opening quarter.

However Hish delivered two more trifectas – one from the right wing and a second one from the right corner coming off of a screen on an in bounds play.

That bomb and a inside score by Drone on the next trip pushed the lead to 17-2.

A rebound basket by Galatia's Tyler McCormick and a 3-pointer by Reed cut the score to 19-7 at the first horn.

Galatia showed the Christmas spirit in the opening stanza by giving away nine turnovers – five in the first two minutes – that gave the Hawks all the room they would need.

The Bearcats made their best move of the game late in the first half to cut the halftime deficit to just ten.

Galatia outscored the Hawks 7-2 to close the second quarter – which included a buzzer-beating 23-footer from the right wing by Reed.

After a missed free throw by Galatia's Josh Moore – a scramble for the ball ensued in the final few seconds.

Reed ended up with the ball and launched a 3-point bomb that ripped the net as time expired as both teams left the court at 33-23.

As bad as the opening quarter was for the hosts – the third quarter wasn't much better.

Gallatin County outgunned the 'Cats 26-12 in the frame with sophomore Patrick Lowe getting into the scoring act.

The 6-foot-4 junior netted nine of his 15-points as part of a run that sealed the win.

He hit his only 3-pointer at the 5:50 mark to make it 42-27.

His next bucket on a 15-footer from the right wing made it 48-28 with 4:25 to go.

Less than a minute later Reed hurt his ankle and had to be helped from the floor.

“Denton has been our leading scorer throughout the first four games at the Grayville Tournament and you can always depend on him to come through and have a great game,” Coach Belford added. “I don't know how bad it is (injury) but I will find out shortly.”

The Bearcats couldn't get any closer than 19 the rest of the way.

Gallatin County hit 50 percent of their shots overall (24-of-48) with a sparkling 17-of-29 from two-point range.

Following Hish's 23 points was 19-points by Drone and Cox with his 15.

“You have to remember we are still awful young and we know that they are going to play sporadic at times but we just trying to get their feet on the ground, get a win or two under them and get some confidence built up,” added Coach Patton. “I think that they will get better every game. Every game we play we are looking towards the regional, without a doubt that is what we have our goals set on.”

Galatia couldn't overcome its mistakes (16 turnovers/nine in the first quarter) and its poor shooting as they connected on just 14-of-43 attempts (24 percent) on this opening night of Greater Egyptian Conference play.

Behind Reed's 13-points was Josh Moore and Tyler McCormick with 10 each.

“It is hard to guard him (Drone) one-on-one and we just did the best that we could do,” added Coach Belford.

Gallatin County heads to Eldorado this Friday to take on the Eagles in a non-conference battle while Galatia won't play again until December 7 against Pope County at home.