Pike County Central’s Jaylon Rigdon scored the game-winning basket as time expired on the clock to lift the Hawks to a thrilling 55-54 win over Magoffin County in the season opener played at the Hawks Nest on Tuesday night.

Rigdon finished with a game-high 20 points and Josh Du Toit  followed with 17.

Aden Barnett paced the Hornets with 17 points and Ben Lafferty added 15.

At Buckleys Creek

SCORE BY QUARTERS:

MC (0-1)….16   5    9  24 – 54

PC (1-0)…..13  10  17  15 – 55

Scoring:

Magoffin County (54) – Aden Barnett 6 5-6 17; Isaiah Salyer 3 0-1 6; Grayson Whitaker 1(1) 0-2 5; Ethan Prewitt 1 0-0 2; Patrick Damron 4 1-4 9; and Ben Lafferty 5 5-10 15. Totals: 20(1) 11-23 54.

Pike Central (55) – Jaylan Rigdon 4(2) 6-9 20; Josh Du Toit 4(2) 3-3 17; Kasope Lawrence 3 1-4 7; Bryce Adkins 0(2) 0-0 6; and Peyton Childress 1(1) 0-0 5. Totals: 12(7) 10-16 55.

Letcher Central…..76

Lee County……….72

Letcher Central landed three players in double-figure scoring and the Cougars held off Lee County, 76-72, in a game played at LCCHS Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

Bodie Bentley poured in a team-high 28 points as the Cougars moved to 1-1. Joby Johnson and Nigel Nichols followed with 14 each.

At Ermine

SCORE BY QUARTERS:

LC (0-2)…….16  16  18  22 – 72

LCC (1-1)….14  19  21  22 – 76

Scoring:

Lee County (72) – Zach Watterson 9(2) 9-11 33; Kyren White 0(3) 0-0 9; Keagan Wilder 3(4) 0-0 18; Nick McClain 2 0-2 4; and Alex Wolf 3 2-2 8. Totals: 17(9) 11-15 72.

Letcher Central (76) – Ethan Whitaker 2 0-1 4; Nigel Nichols 1(2) 6-6 14; Bodie Bentley 11 6-8 28; Isaiah Adams 1(1) 1-1 6; Luke Goins 0 1-2 1; Joby Johnson 6 2-3 14; Brady Boggs 0 1-2 1; and Kaden Adams 1 1-2 3. Totals: 24(3) 19-29 76.

Next up: Letcher Central (1-1) vs. Harlan County (1-0), 7:30 pm, Jan. 9.

Belfry……….…..83

Prestonsburg…..62

Belfry took the lead away from Prestonsburg in the second period and the Pirates went on to beat the Blackcats, 83-62, in the season opener played at Prestonsburg Field House on Tuesday night.

Tyler Chaffin led four Pirates in double figure scoring with a game-high 22 points. Tyler Chaffin followed with 20 while Bol Kuir finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds for his first double-double. Ben McNamee tossed in 17.

Ryan Rose led the Blackcats with 18 points and Will Gullett scored 10.

At Prestonsburg

SCORE BY QUARTERS:

BF (1-0)….12  24  16  31 – 83

PB (0-1)….19    7    9  27 – 62

Scoring:

Belfry (83) – Sal Dean 8 6-8 22; Tyler Chaffin 6(2) 2-2 20; Bol Kuir 8 1-2 17; Ben McNamee 8 1-3 17; Noah Brown 0(1) 0-0 3; Zachary Savage 1 0-2 2; Caden Woolum 0 0-2 0; and Jonathan Banks 1 0-0 2. Totals: 32(3) 10-19 83.

Prestonsburg (62) – Ryan Rose 3(1) 9-13 18; Will Gullett 2(2) 0-0 10; Grant Justice 3 4-4 10; Kaleb Jarvis 3 2-3 8; Wes Salisbury 1(1) 0-0 5; Jon Little 1(1) 0-0 5; Connor Hopkins 0(1) 0-0 3; and Jacob Martin 0(1) 0-0 3. Totals: 13(7) 15-20 62.

Next up: Belfry (1-0) vs Pikeville (0-1), 7:30 pm, Jan. 8; Prestonsburg (0-1) at Knott Central(1-0), 7:30 pm, Jan. 8.

Paintsville….70

Betsy Layne….63

Paintsville went on the road and beat Betsy Layne, 70-63, in the season opener for both teams played at Junior Newsome Arena on Tuesday night.

Colby Fugate poured in 29 points and Braxton Tharp followed with 19. Jaxon Watts added 10.

In other games on Tuesday night:

Floyd Central defeated Phelps, 78-64

Shelby Valley rolled past West Carter, 77-51