Cooper wins rock fight 50-35 over Henderson County, locks up final Sweet 16 quarterfinal bid

It wasn’t always pretty, but a win is still a win. And at this point in the season, a win means your season is still alive.

To close out the first round of the 2025 UK HealthCare Boys Basketball Sweet 16 on Thursday night in Rupp Arena, the No. 11 Cooper Jaguars won a defensive battle 50-35 over the No. 14 Henderson County Colonels. Neither side played particularly efficiently on offense, but Cooper was able to take an early lead and didn’t look back en route to the victory.

Cooper shot 45 percent from the field but just 2-12 from deep while turning the ball over 10 times. Jaidan Coombs led the way for the Jaguars with 14 points and six rebounds while Andy Johnson (13 points) and Isaac Brown (12) weren’t far behind in the scoring column. They did enough to build a cushion from the jump.

This game was won on the defensive end though. Cooper held Henderson County to 41.9 percent shooting without a single made three-pointer (0-7). The Colonels also turned the ball over 16 times. Lacon McKinney was the team’s top scorer with 11 points and five rebounds. Henderson County’s season-long leading scorer, Samford commit Cooper Davenport, was held to zero points on 0-5 shooting.

“If you wanna play for this man (Cooper head coach Tim Sullivan), you gotta play defense. It don’t matter,” Coombs said. “Defense is gonna win games. If you score 20 points and hold them to 17, it might be a boring game, but defense is gonna win the game.”

“To give Coach Sullivan and his program some credit, We haven’t seen anybody that guards quite at that level,” Henderson County head coach Tyler Smithhart said. “They’re a next-level defense.”

Cooper, playing in its first Sweet 16 since finishing as the runner-up in 2017, will go head-to-head against No. 2 Great Crossing (featuring Kentucky signee Malachi Moreno) in the quarterfinals on Friday. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

Game Recap

If you were hoping for offensive firepower in this one, you picked the wrong game. Defense was the name of this one early and often as Henderson County, in its first Sweet 16 since 1999, went over six minutes without a single point. It wasn’t until Dwaine Moss connected on a layup with 1:51 left in the quarter that the Colonels got on the board. Meanwhile, Cooper wasn’t much better on offense but was able to control the momentum. The Jaguars held a 10-2 lead after the opening period as the two teams combined for nine turnovers.

The second quarter saw the calming of some nerves. Cooper jumped out to a 15-4 advantage before Henderson County began to settle in. A 6-0 run from the Colonels made it a five-point game midway through the frame. But Cooper responded with a 7-2 run to close out the half, taking a 22-12 lead into the intermission. Henderson County turned the ball over nine times in the first half while Cooper shot 1-8 from deep. Andy Johnson led all scorers with nine points for the Jaguars.

Out of the break, the third quarter didn’t provide much in the way of points. But Cooper did manage to build a 14-point lead midway through the period. Jaguars’ guard Isaac Brown became the first player to hit the double-digit mark. He had 10 points going into the final frame with Cooper ahead 32-19.

Henderson County refused to lay down though. The Colonels ramped up the defensive effort and employed a full-court press. Henderson County started the quarter on a 9-4 run as Cooper went on a two-minute scoring drought. The score got as close as 36-28 before the Jaguars made back-to-back layups to go back ahead by a dozen with 3:20 to play. Cooper dribbled out the clock from there to advance in the bracket.