Richlands 67,

John Battle 62

Richlands raced out to an early lead and then held on late to defeat John Battle 67-62. The Blues held a 48-37 lead going to the fourth quarter. Richlands extended the lead to 56-40 after a trey by Ethan Ratliff with 5:10 left to play in the game. But the Trojans tried their best to rally.

“We kind of pushed away, but Battle didn’t quit they kept knocking shots down,” Richlands coach Jody Fuller said. “I thought we shot the ball well tonight and I thought we did a good job on the boards.”

Ben Brown had a monster game for the Blues with a double-double. Brown finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds.

“You can't beat Ben Brown,” said Fuller. “He's one of the best kids I've ever known.”

John Battle (1-5) was able to pull within three points, 58-55 with 1:11 left to play in the game. But Richlands (2-1) was 9-of-10 from the foul line the final 51 seconds of the game to put it away. Brown, Luke Phillips and Cody Fuller all made important free throws.

“I thought we were going to walk away but Battle kept making their shots,” Fuller said. “They made it more interesting that I wanted it to be.”

Fuller (17) and Ratliff (13) both had strong nights offensively for the Blues. Dylan Garrett (14) and Austin Bowman (13) led the Trojans.



JOHN BATTLE (62)

Harris 3 1-2 9, Bowers 5 0-0 10, Bowman 5 2-2 13, Garrett 6 0-0 14, Clark 4 2-2 10, A. Owens 2 1-2 6, L. Owens 0 0-0 0, Haderer 0 0-0 0, Boyd 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 6-8 62.

RICHLANDS (67)

Phillips 2 4-5 8, Fuller 6 3-5 17, Ratliff 5 0-0 13, Brown 6 6-9 19, Johnson 1 2-2 4, Herndon 2 0-0 6, Austin 0 0-0 0, Holmes 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 15-21 67.

John Battle..................6 12 19 25 — 62

Richlands....................14 13 21 19 — 67

3-point goals – John Battle 6 (Owens 1, Harris 2, Bowman 1, Garrett 2), Richlands 8 (Herndon 2, Fuller 2, Ratliff 3, Brown 1). Total fouls – John Battle 21, Richlands 6. Fouled out – Owens, Bowman.