MOREHEAD — Greenup County succeeded in getting Elliott County’s attention this time.

Unlike a 68-point rout in the first week of the season, Greenup County stayed within striking distance of the defending 16th Region champs until well into the third quarter Thursday night.

Elliott County bided its time, however, and used one of its patented surges to pull away for a 79-53 first-round victory at Ellis T. Johnson Arena.

“Nobody wants to turn their uniforms in this time of year,’’ said Lions coach Rick Mays. “That’s what I told our kids at halftime. Give Greenup County credit. They played strong. I don’t think that first game we played them indicated anything.’’

The Musketeers have been a different team down the stretch after Jason Smith took over as interim head coach following the resignation of Chad Leach.

Greenup County had a home win over Ashland in early February and earned a spot in the regional tournament with a district win over Russell.

“We were 42 points better tonight than the first time we played Elliott,’’ Smith said. “That’s a reflection of the kids’ hard work and dedication that they gave every single day.’’

The Musketeers jumped out to a 7-2 lead Thursday as Elliott County shot 2-for-10 to open the game.

“We rushed a little early,’’ Mays said. “We didn’t run our offense and didn’t use the middle enough. That’s the tendency when a team thinks it’s going to be easy.’’

But Elliott County’s defense gradually took over. The Lions scored 20 points off 16 Greenup County turnovers in the first half to lead 35-25 at the intermission. Evan Faulkner had four of the Lions’ 10 steals in the first half.

“They just do a great job bringing a lot of pressure,’’ Smith said. “They do it in a lot of different ways and get a lot of scoring opportunities because of it.’’

If that wasn’t enough for the Musketeers to contend with, 6-foot-7 freshman Timmy Knipp came off Elliott County’s bench to block four shots in the first half. Three of them came in one sequence.

“He’s very long and has good timing,’’ Smith said. “First they bring the trapping situations. When you pass out of that and start to attack the basket, there’s a 6-7 athlete in the middle to wreak a little havoc.’’

Make that a lot. Knipp went on to finish with a career-high 10 blocks to go with his 12 points and eight rebounds in 22 minutes of playing time.

“The coaches said they needed somebody to go in and play defense and rebound,’’ Knipp said. “They put me in and I just blocked shots.’’

Mays said the 15-year-old continues to learn and grow on the court as he goes.

“What else could you ask?’’ said the Elliott County coach. “I didn’t know he had 10 blocks, but that’s the way he can play.’’

Knipp started the second half with three consecutive baskets, including a fast-break dunk, and Evan Faulkner scored off an inbounds pass to extend Elliott County’s lead to 43-25.

Greenup County responded with one last spurt. Justin Middleton keyed a 9-2 run with three baskets to get the Musketeers within 11 points midway through the third period.

“They kept playing hard,’’ Knipp said. “Greenup County has improved a lot over the season. I could tell by watching some game films.’’

Just when the Musketeers were making it interesting again, Elliott County landed a knockout punch in the form of a 17-2 blitz to end the third quarter. Jonathan Ferguson scored seven of his game-high 23 points during that span.

Evan Faulkner finished with 13 points, Tyler Maynard 11 and Ethan Faulkner 10 for the Lions, who boosted their record to 24-3 despite a 4-for-21 night from 3-point range.

Elliott County became the first boys’ district champion to advance past the first round this year. On Wednesday, Ashland knocked off 61st District winner Bath County and East Carter beat 63rd District champ Raceland.

For Greenup County (8-21), Middleton and Ryan Adkins scored 14 apiece and Eric Craft added 11.

“I told our kids I’m really proud of what they accomplished,’’ Smith said. “We’ve got four starters back and this was a nice foundation to build for the future.’’