43
South Range remains perfect
By Dan Hiner
BEAVER TOWNSHIP
With an undefeated season on the line, the South Range boys basketball team needed several players to step up in order to beat United on Friday night. The Raiders came away with a 78-60 win, but it wouldn’t have been possible without Daniel Ritter, Brandon Youngs and Jaxson Anderson combining to score 43 points.
After falling behind 20-18 in the first quarter, the South Range entered halftime up 38-30. But the Raiders still thought they left some points on the board in the first half.
During his halftime speech, South Range head coach John Cullen told his players to play with more aggression and dominate when they go up for rebounds.
South Range (17-0, 5-0 Inter Tri-County League Red) went to work on the glass in the second half. The Raiders outrebounded the Eagles 18-7 in the second half, including eight offensive rebounds.
Those offensive rebounds resulted in 11 second-chance points. United head coach Chris Kadvan said the difference in the game came down to the Raiders ability to create extra opportunities.
“Basketball is a game of runs. In the first quarter, we played well and limited the second-chance opportunities — in the first quarter, they only had one. In the second and third [quarters] they had six each,” Kadvan said.
Ritter was the catalyst behind the Raiders’ success in the second half. Ritter finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds. He scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and was the only player in the game with more than five rebounds.
“For how bad we played in the first half, we knew we had to get rebounds. We knew they couldn’t box us out, so we just came in and played our game,” Ritter said.
Cullen said United didn’t have anyone on its roster that could have stopped Ritter after he started getting consistent openings.
“In the first half, he was passing it out, but in the second half he was getting to the rim a little bit,” Cullen said. “They have some kids that work real hard, but they don’t have anybody that can matchup with him.”
Ritter didn’t carry the load for the Raiders the entire game. Youngs scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed four rebounds. While Anderson came off the bench and scored six points in the second quarter. Anderson was third on the team with 14 points and led the team with three steals.
United (8-7, 2-3 Inter Tri-County Red) couldn’t work the ball into the paint. Kadvan said South Range was “probably the best half-court defensive team” he’s ever coached against.
Kadavan also said the Eagles missed some opportunities to get some easier baskets instead of settling for 3-pointers.
Cullen said foul trouble and the improvement by United were the reasons the Raiders struggled to extend the lead in the first half.
Cullen said United improved its ball handling, which led to less opportunities to create offense. He also said the Eagles were more comfortable shooting in the first quarter.
He also gave credit to players like United’s Alex Birtalan. who finished with 14 points.