Rebels grab big district victory

There is no place like home.

That is what the Owen County Rebels are saying following two weeks of games away from Owen County. The Rebels’ world tour began Dec. 18 with a game at Henry County. They then hit the road for Bourbon County to play in the Kentucky Bank Shootout before traveling to Lloyd for a pre-Christmas game with the Juggernauts. It was then three days in Campbellsville for the Coca-Cola/Campbellsville University Shootout.

After returning home for a couple of days of practice, the Rebels got on one more bus for a trip to Carrollton Saturday night.

“It is going to feel good to be back at home,” said Drew Marston following Saturday’s game at Carroll County.

While the trip to Campbellsville got off to a rough start with the Rebels dropping the first two games in the tournament to Garrard County and Mayfield, the last game at Campbellsville saw Owen County pick up a 60-37 win over the Australian National Team.

Owen County Coach Devin Duvall said the Rebels didn’t shoot the ball well in the opener against Garrard County and let a win slip away in overtime against Mayfield.

Duvall said his team may have played their best game of the season against the Aussies.

Saturday night in Carrollton, the Rebels were looking to get even with the Panthers, who defeated them in Owenton back in December. The road warriors would do just that as they knocked off the home team by a final count of 47-39.

“It was a hard-fought, blue-collar, grind-it-out win,” Duvall said.

The Panthers jumped ahead after the first quarter and led 22-16 with just over two minutes to play in the half. That’s when the Rebels went to work.

Michael Colligan scored the next six points to tie the score heading into halftime.

Owen County continued the run after intermission as they rattled off the seven points of the second half to go in front 29-22.

The Panthers, who had also taken part in the tournament at Campbellsville, didn’t quit. They battled back during the rest of the third quarter and tied the score at 31-31 after Chris Hendrick made a pair of free throws late in the quarter.

The fourth quarter opened with Marston driving to the basket and scoring before Carroll County’s Matt Allen drained a 3-pointer to briefly give the Panthers a one-point edge.

With four minutes left in the game, Jordan Shelton  scored on a nice move to the basket, giving the Rebels the lead once and for all.

The Rebels opened up a 40-34 lead a few seconds later and made enough defensive stops and free throws down the stretch to hold on for the 47-39 victory.

“It was a good district win on the road,” Marston said. “We needed it.”

Collin Gamble said the game carried a lot of importance after what happened earlier in the year in Owenton.

“It’s a really big win for us,” Gamble said. “We knew what they did to us on our court.”

Gamble led the Rebels with 14 points. Marston had 13 in the winning effort. Colligan had 10 points on the night as he made all four shots he attempted from the field. He also had six rebounds. Shelton was held to two points but he grabbed six rebounds to go along with five blocks. Kyle Kelly came off the bench to score two points.

The Rebels will finally play at home tonight as they welcome Gallatin County. The Rebels are asking everyone to wear white to tonight’s game. They will also be recognizing the Bowling Middle School football team at halftime. They will then play at home Friday at 6 p.m. against Henry County before traveling to Grant County Tuesday.