BY MIKE MUNCY

INEZ — Junior Luke Hale pumped in 33 points to lead Martin County to a 97-57 blitz of the Paintsville Tigers in front of a packed house Thursday in Inez.

The Cardinals clicked on all cylinders in their second straight 57th District victory of the week, extending their win streak to nine and improving to 11-2.

This one got nasty early as the Cardinals rained 3s connecting on 14-for-30 for 47%. Junior Luke Hale put on a shooting clinic hitting 7-of-12 from the 3-point line for an amazing 58%.

Hale broke into the scoring column for the Cardinals with a trey at the 6:35 mark in the first quarter. He went off for 13 points in the first, knocking down three treys on his way to a 33-point night.

The Tigers struggled to get the ball up the floor the entire game against the Cardinal pressure defense. The Cardinals poured in 12 straight points before the Tigers could get on the board with Connor Fugate.

Peyton Davis drained a last-second shot to end the quarter with Martin County in front 26-10.

Paintsville struck first in the second frame as Fugate showed up to narrow the gap to 26-12. Brayden McKenzie laid down a dunk for the Cardinals just a few seconds later. Brock Woods laid one in for the Tigers right after to make it 28-14.

Martin County had back-to-back steals to ignite another 12-point onslaught that stretched the lead to 40-14. Ethan Cole responded with a layup for Paintsville with 4:20 left in the half to make it 40-16.

The Cardinals went on a nine-point run to Paintsville’s one to make it 49-19 with less than two minutes left in the half. Hale had the hot hand in the final minute, scoring six points to widen the gap to 59-25 at the half.

Hale finished the half with 25 points to equal the Paintsville team’s score of 25.

The Cardinals kept the pressure on and scored at will in the third, leading to a running clock for the remainder of the game. The score after three was 79-45.

By the fourth quarter the starters were out for the Cardinals. Martin County head coach Jason James subbed frequently, running players in and out.

Cardinal fans were screaming for “100” points as the horn sounded on the 40-point win.

Martin County shot 38-for-65 for 58.5% from the field and 7-for-10 from the free-throw line for 70%.

Coach James was impressed.

“Wow. We just came out ready to play. We jumped up 10-0 early and 59-25 at halftime,” said James. “I didn’t expect that. We went 10-17 from 3 in the first half.

“As good as we were offensively, it was our defense that really set the tone,” added James. “I’m proud of our guys.”

James knows the competition in his district is unrivaled, and even he was surprised by the dominating win.

“Our district is so tough, year in and year out, and the games are pretty close,” said James. “I expected a close game tonight. I figured we were capable of getting up on them some, but not like that.”

As a team, Martin County is No. 7 in KHSAA scoring leaders with 77 ppg; No. 1 in scoring margin with an average 23.5-point spread; No. 15 in field goals at 51.1%; and No. 20 in 3-point field goals at 38.9%.

The hot-shooting Hale led all scorers with 33 points, 25 of which he scored in the first half of the game. He is averaging 21.5 ppg, shooting 50% from the field, 41.4% from behind the arc and 76.3% from the free-throw line. He is ranked 14th in the state for 3-point field goals, averaging 3.4 per game.

“Luke can put up points in a hurry,” said James. “He shoots the ball so well. When he gets hot he can shoot the lights out of it.”

Three other Cardinals followed Hale in the double-figure scoring column: McKenzie fired in 15 points, Dray Duff shot for 13 and Davis tallied 12.

Rounding out the Martin County attack, Jacob Sturgell pitched in nine points, Matthew Linville added five, Eli Mills and Bryson Dials flipped in three points each, and Blake Maynard and Ethan Ferrell scored two points each.

Fugate led Johnson Central with 22 points, Jase Kinner netted 16, Brock Woods added nine, James Lauffer and Ethan Ward each had four, and Cole scored two.

The Cardinals will return to action Tuesday to take on Paintsville in the All “A” Classic at 6 p.m. at the Appalachian Wireless Arena in Pikeville.