17TH DISTRICT BOYS' BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT: Streaking Trojans cruise past Fort Knox (02/22)

The 17th District’s hottest team didn’t have too much trouble with its opening-round opponent Tuesday night.

Jill Pickett

North Hardin's Jermaine Ruttley glides in to shoot a lay-up as Fort Knox's Josh Ellis flies by during the opening round of the 17th District Boys' Basketball Tournament at Elizabethtown High School on Tuesday.

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Jill Pickett

North Hardin's Scotty Sterusky battles amongst Fort Knox defenders to score the put-back during the opening round of the 17th District Boys' Basketball Tournament at Elizabethtown High School on Tuesday.

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Jill Pickett

Fort Knox's Mikayl Bailey finds an opening and shoots over North Hardin's Adam Hendrix during the opening round of the 17th District Boys' Basketball Tournament at Elizabethtown High School on Tuesday.

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Jill Pickett

North Hardin's Adam Hendrix stretches out to shoot a lay-up over Fort Knox defenders during the opening round of the 17th District Boys' Basketball Tournament at Elizabethtown High School on Tuesday.

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The North Hardin Trojans blitzed the Fort Knox Eagles in each of the first two periods and the Trojans rolled into Thursday’s semifinals.

After taking care of one youth-filled team, the Trojans are gunning for another.   

Four Trojans scored in double figures and fourth-seeded North Hardin forced fifth-seeded Fort Knox into 28 turnovers en route to an 89-42 victory in the district tournament’s lone quarterfinal at Elizabethtown’s Charlie Rawlings Memorial Gymnasium.

Winners of eight straight, the Trojans displayed both offensive and defensive prowess.

North Hardin forced the Eagles into four turnovers and scored 10 straight points in the opening 3 minutes. Then, already up 20-9 after one quarter, the Trojans went on a 15-0 run to open the second period – making Fort Knox turn the ball over 10 times and holding the Eagles without a field-goal attempt for the first 4:20 – to take a 35-9 lead with 4 minutes left in the first half.

They made quite the impression on Fort Knox coach Kip Rambo.

“Now that they’ve got everyone back, they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with,” he said.

It looks like they are.

North Hardin (11-16) plays top-seeded Elizabethtown (16-11) in Thursday’s 6 p.m. semifinal. Second-seeded John Hardin (17-8) and third-seeded Central Hardin (13-13) meet in the 8:30 nightcap, with the championship set for 7 p.m. Saturday.

The Trojans knocked off Fort Knox (6-23) for the third time this season and recorded their 12th straight victory over the Eagles. Fort Knox still hasn’t won a district tournament game since beating Meade County in the 2001 quarterfinals.

North Hardin used a balanced offensive attack, hitting the Eagles from inside and out.

Senior guard Jermaine Ruttley scored a game-high 19 points, while senior Jauan Akins added 18. Senior Adam Hendrix finished with a double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds), while senior Sam Coachman finished with 13 points – going 3-of-11 from the outside.

Hendrix acknowledged the Trojans tried to find Coachman and get senior guard DuWayne White (five points, five rebounds) more involved. Those two, along with Akins, returned Feb. 7 from their nine-week suspension for a “violation of team rules” and have helped the Trojans to six consecutive wins since.

Akins has already shown he’s a dominant presence since his return. He had a double-double against Taylor County and nearly had another against Mercer County (15 points, nine boards). Now, if the Trojans can get Coachman and White get going, Hendrix thinks they could be even more lethal.

“We feel pretty confident right now,” Hendrix said. “We wanted to get Sam and DuWayne more involved because they’re not getting as many shots since we haven’t practiced much. Once we get Sam’s shots falling again, we’ll have even more confidence and have a good two-three punch.”

For Fort Knox, it felt like a punch in the gut.

The Eagles closed the season losing 10 of their final 11 games – nine of those coming by double-digits and seven coming by 20 points or more.

Sophomore guard Michael Powell led Fort Knox with 11 points and was named to the all-district tournament team. He went 2-of-11 from the field but 7-of-11 from the foul line. Freshman guard Josh Ellis added seven points. The Eagles had trouble doing much offensively with junior guard/forward Rashaan Allen (four points) mired in foul trouble and on the bench most of the night. He picked up his third foul with 6:33 left in the second quarter and his fourth with 5:30 in the third.

“We tried to run a passing-game type offense to try to spread the floor to try to shorten the game up a little bit in the first half. But that didn’t work for us,” Rambo said. “In the second half, we came out and ran a specific situation game offense, a type of offense we usually run. That worked better.”

Now, North Hardin will turn its attention to the Panthers – a team which beat them in both regular-season meetings (62-60 on Jan. 10 and 65-53 on Jan. 24).

Hendrix thinks backup senior center Nathaniel Bell could play an important role.

“Nathaniel Bell will be a key part of our district run – in case I get into foul trouble,” he said. “Elizabethtown has two good big men.”

Bevars just hopes the Trojans are ready for the major showdown.

“This was just a game you try to get through it – no discredit to Fort Knox. They’ve got a lot of young kids. We’ve got a veteran team and we just wanted to go play, win and move on to the next one,” he said. “I like to have the kids have confidence. Elizabethtown won 16 games and with the schedule they played, that’s a good effort.”

John Groth can be reached at (270) 505-1754 or jgroth@thenewsenterprise.com