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South Range topples Youngstown Christian
By BRANDON JUDEH
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
The South Range boys basketball team thrived off of home-court advantage in Tuesday’s 70-45 victory over Youngstown Christian.
Before an electric student section, the Raiders’ Dan Good, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, recorded a double-double by scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 boards.
“We came in tonight wanting to play five as one, or in other words play as a team, because individual stats don’t mean anything to us,” Good said. “We have all been playing since we were sophomores and it was great to come out in the first game and win like this.”
Also having big games for the Raiders were Brandon Pluchinsky who scored 13 and Andy Lacefield who scored eight points and chipped in a game-high three assists.
Both teams started slow as the Raiders took a 14-11 lead going into the second quarter.
Then, South Range (1-0) became a whole different team as the Raiders outscored the Eagles 21-3 to take a commanding 21-point lead into halftime.
“One thing that is awesome about our players is everyone top to bottom, from varsity through junior varsity, practices extremely hard and we can’t be more proud of them for working so hard,” South Range coach Dave Purins said. “They are committed to each other and the team and that showed here tonight.”
Good says his team stayed focused on this game only, but admitted it was tough not to look ahead to Friday’s contest against rival Springfield.
“The Springfield game is something we have all been looking forward to for a long time because they came into our gym last year and beat us pretty easily and we can’t wait to play them on Friday,” Good said.
“I think if we keep working hard the way that we are and playing as a team that we have a great shot at taking the [Inter Tri-County League], but we have to stay focused and play one game at a time.”
South Range did a great job at getting to the free-throw line as they attempted 22 free throws to only eight for the Eagles.
Youngstown Christian adjusted nicely on offense coming into the second half as they were able to keep pace with the Raiders for most of the second half.
In the end it was too little too late for the Eagles (0-1) as they shot a dismal 33.3 percent from the field compared to 45.7 percent by the Raiders.
The Eagles did manage to outscore South Range 22-21 in the final period, in big part due to Davon Adams and Daylen Williams each chipping in with 13 points.