57TH DISTRICT TOURNAMENT: Cardinals cruise into championship game

INEZ – Martin County built a commanding first-half lead against Magoffin County and went on to score a 64-46 win in the opening round of the boys’ 57th District Tournament played at Martin County High School on Tuesday night.

The Cardinals, now 18-12, won their ninth consecutive game while ending the Hornets season at 15-15. Martin County will host tonight’s Johnson Central/Paintsville winner in the title matchup. The Cardinals are now qualified for the 15th Region tournament.

Brady Dingess led a balanced scoring attack with 16 points while Braxton Maynard followed with 14. Trey James finished with another double-double, scoring 13 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. He also had five blocked shots.

Aden Barnett paced the Hornets with 16 points, sharing game-high scoring honors with Dingess. Isaiah Salyer followed with 11 and Randy Bailey chipped in nine and grabbed six boards.

At Inez

(57th District Tournament)

SCORE BY QUARTERS:

MC (15-15)…9    5  19  13 – 46

MR (18-12)..20  16  11  17 – 64

Scoring:

Magoffin County (46) – Isaiah Salyer 1(3) 0-0 11; Aden Barnett 5(2) 0-0 16; Grayson Whitaker 1(1) 0-0 5; Randy Bailey 4 1-1 9; Lucas Litteral 0(1) 0-0 3; and Patrick Damron 1 0-0 2. Totals: 12(7) 1-1 46.

Martin County (64) –  Brady Dingess 7 2-2 16; Ethan Smith-Mills 3(1) 0-0 9; Jordan Dalton 0(1) 2-2 5; Braxton Maynard 2(2) 2-4 14; Trey James 6 1-2 13; and Parker Davis 0(1) 4-5 7. Totals: 18(5) 13-17 64.