In making its first appearance in the National City/KHSAA Boys Sweet 16 since 1995, Adair County made a decision.

The Indians chose to hang around in Lexington a little while.

Mark Fudge's team saw its choice through Wednesday, defeating Lincoln County 51-41 for its first state tournament victory since the 1955 team advanced to the state championship game.

The Indians controlled most of the game, trailing for just 15 seconds all afternoon. But the outcome was hardly a given early in the fourth quarter.

After Adair County had taken a 13-point lead late in the third, the Patriots used a 9-0 run over the next 5:19 to pull within four.

But that left room for Kalen Kimberland to make the play of the game.

Following a Joseph Willis turnover, Lincoln County's Daniel Ralston appeared to have an easy layup that would've cut the lead to 33-31 with 5:35 left. But Kimberland caught Ralston from behind and poked the ball out of bounds.

On the ensuing play, the Indians' Darren Ballou came up with a steal that began a 10-3 Indian run to put the game out of reach.

Chris Lewis led the Indians (24-9) with 12 points, while Kimberland added 11 and Ballou had ten points and nine rebounds.

The Indians move on to face Scott County (31-2) in the quarterfinals Friday. The Cardinals advanced with a 59-47 win over Oldham County and have been ranked #1 in Kentucky all season. Their only two losses came to Jacksonville (Fla.) Arlington Country Day and Huntington (W. Va.) High, both of which won their respective state championships.