South Range goes inside to beat Struthers

January 9, 2019 at 12:09a.m.

Brooks, Anderson

combine for 27 in Raiders’ win

BEAVER TOWNSHIP

Chris Brooks scored a game-high 14 points and Jaxon Anderson added 13 to lead South Range to a 57-38 victory over Struthers on Tuesday night in Northeast 8 Conference play.

The win halted a two-game tailspin for the Raiders (6-4, 2-2 NE8) as they improved to 3-1 on their home court.

“Coach [John] Cullen told us at halftime to attack their weakness and we felt going into the game that we were stronger than them inside,” Brooks said. “Credit Jaxon because he was able to penetrate when he had the ball, then found us for the open shot. Plus, he was able to get his own open looks.”

Four points by Anderson and a triple by Chris Brown staked the Raiders to the early 7-2 advantage while the South Range defense held the Wildcats (4-5, 1-2 NE8) to just four buckets in the opening period for a 15-8 lead after the first eight minutes of action.

“This was a big win for us, a real confidence booster,” Anderson said. “We had lost two straight games but more importantly, this was a league win. Coach Cullen told us prior to the game to capture our togetherness and I think we did a good job of that tonight.”

Five points by Kevin Traylor, including his first of three triples with 28 seconds remaining in the opening half helped Struthers cut the Raiders lead to 27-19 at the intermission.

Traylor led the Wildcats with 14 points while Jared Laczko added 13 markers for Struthers.

Ten points by Brooks in the third period gave South Range a 40-20 margin, settling for a 44-26 lead with eight minutes remaining.

“Struthers is a team with plenty of talent, a team that when they are shooting well can beat anyone in our area,” Cullen said. “Chris and Jaxon are players that play to their strengths and while Chris is an excellent outside shooter, you don’t see much of that because he’s been playing inside for us.

“We were able to keep them off-balance tonight and didn’t allow many easy points. On the other hand, I felt that we capitalized on the easy opportunities that we had.”

Traylor nailed two triples and had seven points in the final frame, offsetting five points from Anderson as the Wildcats fell for the third time in their last five outings.