The Carlisle County Comets are the First District Champions after defeating Fulton County 78-53 Friday night. The victory marks the fourth consecutive district title for the Comets and 30th as a program.
JARED JENSEN | The Sun
For the fourth year in a row and 30th time in program history, the Carlisle County Comets are the First District Champions after defeating Fulton County 78-53 Friday night from Fulton City High School.
What started as an intense First District showdown that saw some lead changes in the second quarter, turned into Comet-dominated second half that would make any coach proud.
The Fulton County Pilots put up a fight in the First District tournament, but couldn’t hold off the Comets in the second half, claiming the Runner-Up title.
JARED JENSEN | The Sun
It was getting to that point that was the frustrating part for Carlisle’s coaching staff, but the fun part for both fan bases.
“We had a good start, getting up 8-0 right off the bat with some pretty solid defense,” Carlisle County head coach Brian O’Neill said. “We went into our 2-2-1 and it allowed guys like Zayden Kinney to get some open looks and it just kind of snowballed from there.”
That snowball allowed Fulton to go from down 15-4 early in the first quarter, down just 21-14 at the end of the first and up 24-23 midway through the second. The lead came courtesy of a Charles Keys layup, but that lead would only last a moment as Carlisle’s leading scorer, Brennan O’Neill reclaimed it on the next possession, never looking back.
O’Neill would lead all scorers on the night with 30 points to lead the Comets to victory, making for a special night for the junior in helping make history at Carlisle County.
“The culture of winning basketball has been really strong over the years,” Brennan O’Neill said. “The very first goal of every season is to win a district title, and we’ve been able to accomplish that four years in a row now — it’s been pretty special, especially with the group of guys that we’ve got.”
O’Neill was the driving force for many of the Comets offensive possessions as his 30 points were spread out evenly between the two halves — 15 in the first, 15 in the second.
“It’s pretty special to see Brennan out there doing things like he did tonight,” Coach O’Neill said. “Being the coaches son can be tough at times, I know he feels the pressure, but he hasn’t shown it, especially in the second half of the season. He’s stepped up his game and when he’s playing well guys like Wyatt Rickard and Kasen Perez, Heath McBride, Dax Garrett start to thrive as well.”
From a halftime score of just 30-28 in favor of the Comets, a stern talking-to in the locker room seemed to change the energy that the eventual championships would display back on the court.
“Dad kinda got into us a little bit at the half, but I think that really helped us come out ready in the second half,” Brennan said.
While the tempo was immediate, it took the Comets a few possessions to shake the Pilots off as Kinney hit a corner three to make it 32-31. Braylan Hendrix would use speed to his advantage to get to the basket and draw the foul, but a missed free throw kept the Pilots behind the eight ball by a digit still.
Carlisle was able to build a 48-39 lead as fast break buckets became their best friend as they built a 56-43 lead heading into the final eight minutes of action.
The duo of O’Neill and Rickard took over the fourth quarter, combining for 17 of the Comets 22 points as they went on a 10-0 run to make it a 66-45 ballgame early in the frame.
Kinney would do all he could to keep the Pilots on the board, collecting eight of his 25 in the fourth, but the momentum built by the Comets would be too much to overcome.
Both teams will advance to the First Region tournament next week at Murray State’s CFSB Center and Brennan O’Neill says if the team can play like they did in the second half next week, they should see success on the region stage.
“We’ve just got to continue to attack the basket,” Brennan said. “We settled for three’s early in the first quarter tonight, but once we started attacking the rim is when we really built our lead. Our defensive intensity also needs to be turned up next week and we should be locked in ready to go.”
The region draw will take place Saturday morning at Marshall County high school and boys action will get underway Wednesday and Thursday following the first round of girls action on Monday and Tuesday.
The First District boys All-District team pictured from left to right: Heath McBride, Kasen Perez, Bernnan O’Neill, Wyatt Rickard, Braylan Hendrix, Caden Kimble, Zayden Kinney, Logan Grimmitt, Brendan Rosas, Boston Boaz, Jamarion Jackson and Josh Pirtle.
JARED JENSEN | The Sun
Following the night, the best of First District’s athletes from all four schools were honored as the All-District team, including Fulton City’s Josh Pirtle and Jamarion Jackson; Hickman County’s Boston Boaz, Brendan Rosas and Logan Grimmitt; Fulton County’s Zayden Kinney, Caden Kimble and Braylan Hendrix and Carlisle County’s Wyatt Rickard, Brennan O’Neill, Kasen Perez and Heath McBride.
CARLISLE COUNTY 21 | 9 | 26 | 22 — 78
FULTON COUNTY 14 | 14 | 15 | 10 — 53
CC: B. O’Neill 30, W. Rickard 21, H. McBride 10, K. Perez 8, D. Garrett 5, J. Bruer 2, J. Neeble 2
FC: Z. Kinney 25, Z. Frame 8, C. Kimble 7, B. Hendrix 7, CJ Keys 6