HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL S. Range ices Reserve

The Raiders stayeda half-game behind McDonald for second place in the ICL.
By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BERLIN CENTER -- Like a lot of frosty vehicles that have been sitting outside, the South Range High basketball team needed a jump start.
Supplying the spark was junior Jordan Taylor, who nailed two 3-pointers in the first quarter then added two more in the second half to propel the Raiders to a 61-54 triumph Friday over Western Reserve.
The Raiders' victory (9-3, 5-3 Inter-County League) keeps them a half-game behind second-place McDonald in the ICL race.
"The difference really was Taylor knocking down those big shots," Western Reserve coach Steve Miller said. "We didn't take care of the ball and Taylor stepped up and made some big shots."
Pulling ahead
After the Blue Devils (5-9, 4-4) jumped out to a 10-5 lead, Taylor scored the Raiders' next eight points to cut the lead to 14-13 after a quarter.
After George Rohan connected for a traditional three-point play to put the Raiders ahead, Taylor scored the next two baskets for a 20-14 lead.
"He just steps up when you need him," South Range coach Rocky Carr said. "And he never appears to really get too excited about anything -- he just goes out and does his job."
Consecutive baskets by Blue Devils senior forward Ryan Jones cut the Raiders' advantage to 22-20 late in the second quarter.
The Raiders responded with six unanswered points -- four by Bruce Barnes -- for an eight-point edge they would nurse in the second half.
Little bit sloppy
"Early on, we shot the ball better," Miller said. "We had a little dry spell there in the second quarter. A lot of that dry spell was the result of us not having that many possessions because we turned the ball over. We had 14 turnovers in the first half."
Carr was also unhappy with his team's giveaways.
"I didn't feel we were executing our offense very well in the first quarter," Carr said. "We had too many turnovers in the first half ... unforced turnovers where we'd throw it out of bounds or throw it off our feet."
Carr said the difference was his squad's "improved defense."
Miller agreed, saying South Range made it hard for the Blue Devils "to get the ball inside to Ryan, especially early on. We kind of got out of the flow a little bit.
"And they did a good job of taking away [outside ace] Jeremy [Shevel], not giving him any looks at all. I think he only shot three times in the first half," Miller said.
Taylor, who led all scorers with 18, opened the second half with a trey. But the Blue Devils responded with 15 of the game's next 23 points to close the deficit to 39-35.
Baskets by Richie Schuler and Taylor snapped the Blue Devils' momentum and helped restore the Raiders' lead to 44-35.
South Range's lead grew to 15 before the Blue Devils closed the game with an 8-0 run.
Not enough
"We didn't play exceptionally poor, except for the turnovers," Miller said. "We shot the ball OK, but we didn't get to the foul line at all.
"We didn't have much offense. A lot of it was because of their full-court press -- we kind of got caught in the transition game and that's more of what they want to do. We played too much of their game plan," Miller said.
In the first meeting, Western Reserve won 65-55. Carr said part of his team's problem then was responding to the loss of senior Ryan Copeland to a knee injury.
"In our first two games, Ryan Copeland had 18 points and 11 rebounds each night," Carr said. "It took us a while to learn that we can win without him."
Schuler and Barnes each scored 10 points for the Raiders.
Jones, Shevel and Doug Shirley led the Blue Devils with 10 apiece.
williams@vindy.com