By Jack Little

Contributing Writer

The Boyle County boys basketball team (15-2 coming into tonight) has been on fire recently with seven straight victories including a home win against Lincoln County and a 28-point blowout win at Danville, but on Tuesday night, that streak would come to an end.

Collins High School (13-4 coming into tonight) would prove to be a tough challenge for the Rebels due to their glaring similarities in their matchup on Tuesday night.

Both teams have a phenomenal go-to guy with Luke Imfeld for the Rebels and Kenyon Goodin for the Titans are leading their teams with over 20 points a game. Both teams have high-quality athletes that love to get out and run and they both play ferocious half-court defense with high defensive work rates. All these similarities created a high-quality game of basketball.

The game was tight from start to finish. The lead seemingly switched hands every possession. Boyle led by 10-9 at the end of the first and extended their lead to 2 after the second quarter.

The second half started off with some hot shooting by the Rebels with William Carr, Cruise Wilson, and Kason Myers all knocking down three-pointers on consecutive possessions, but momentum shifted back to the Titans after a technical foul earned the Titans and Goodin two free throws and the ball.

Collins went on a 10-2 run in the ensuing minutes to put themselves back in the game. The fourth quarter was a dogfight with both teams trading the lead back and forth until there was less than a minute left and Collins held a 3-point lead.

The ball went into Luke Imfeld’s hands as the Rebels looked for an answer and he gave it to them with a pull-up contested wing three that he drained to tie up the game.

In the following possession, Collins gave the ball back to the Rebels with under 30 seconds remaining after an errant post entry pass flew out of bounds.

Boyle took the ball to rack quickly, but couldn’t finish. The Titans now had possession again with 19 seconds left and Goodin would be heading back to the line after a foul on the rebound.

Goodin was pure from the line to put the Titans up 2 points and the Rebels had only those 19 seconds to decide whether they would go for the win or send it to overtime.

They went for the ambitious call and got William Carr an open three-ball with 10 seconds left. It clanged off the back rim but was snatched by Rebel center Jakei Tarter who kicked it out to Hagan Webb for a great look that came up just short and fell into the grateful arms of Goodin.

It seemed over and done with, but an elbow from Goodin after a quick foul with 2.2 seconds left earned him a technical foul. Goodin would have two free throws, followed by Imfeld with two.

 Both Goodin and Imfeld showed their mental fortitude and knocked down their shots resulting in a 56-54 Collins lead with 2.2 seconds left and Boyle with the basketball.

Imfeld, the first look, was taken away, but Carr got the ball on the top of the key and let fly.

The ball seemed to loom in the air forever as the crowd watched it float toward the rim, but it couldn’t find its way into the net so it was Collins who walked out of Rebel Arena with a victory.

Boyle County takes the court next on Saturday at 4:45 in Rockcastle’s gym against Madison Central in the Rocket Classic.