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South Range heats up for road win over Niles
By STEVE RUMAN
NILES
Friday evening was an ideal night to stay inside, as temperatures plummeted into the teens, more than 40 degrees colder from the previous night.
The South Range High basketball team certainly felt cozy and comfortable with its inside game Friday, resulting in a 69-47 Northeast 8 win over Niles McKinley.
The Raiders seemingly scored at will with shots from point-blank range. They scored their first 29 points inside the paint – nearly all layups – before Jaxon Anderson nailed a jump shot from just beyond the foul line with 2:35 left before halftime. By then, the Raiders led 31-16 and never looked back.
South Range improves its record to 14-6 (8-4). Niles falls to 9-9 (5-7).
South Range junior Chris Brooks led all scorers with 24 points. Jaxon Anderson (16 points) and Dante DiGaetano (12 points) also scored in double figures for the visitors.
The Raiders held Niles’ all-time leading scorer Cyler Kane-Johnson to 11 points. Corbin Foy added eight points for the Red Dragons.
“We hang our hat on our ability to shoot, being able to score inside,” said South Range coach John Cullen. “We shoot a lot better when those shots are two and three feet away, so when we get those opportunities, we have to take advantage.”
Thanks to a quick six-point outburst by DiGaetano, South Range built an 11-2 lead midway through the first quarter. Anderson then scored eight points in the final half of the period and the Raiders led 23-11 after eight minutes of play.
“We did a good job limiting Niles to one shot, and we did a nice job defensively,” Cullen said. “Last time we faced Niles, Kane-Johnson had four points at the half, then he went off for 23 in the second half. He’s the best one-on-one player in the area, so we threw two guys at him and they did a good job of limiting his shots.”
Brooks, who scored 12 points both before and after halftime, credited his teammates for their ability to feed him the ball down low.
“Everyone on the floor was making great passes, they all had great assists and I just finished things off,” Brooks said. “We also made a couple of long-range shots midway through the game, and that further opened up our inside game.”
Brooks said he and his teammates are pleased with their play in the inaugural season in the NE-8.
“We really didn’t know what to expect of the league, I think we’ve grown nicely as a team and we’re excited as we near the tournament,” Brooks said.
Meanwhile, much like the Valley temperatures which have bounced between record highs and record lows in the past week, Niles has had a hot-and-cold season to this point.
“Win one, lose one, that’s been our season to this point,” said Dragons coach Doug Foster. “South Range is a really good basketball team, we’re trying to get there. We just didn’t have an answer for their size tonight.”