AM
Second half run sends Bobcats past Raiders
Summers County (59) Vs. Liberty-Raleigh (55)
Dec 16, 2014
GLEN DANIEL — Summers County head basketball coach Robert Bowling had a goal when the season started. He wanted to win the games he thought his team should win and maybe steal a couple where they were the underdog.

After Tuesday night's performance, he might be reconsidering how big of an underdog they really are this season.

The Bobcats came into the home of the Raiders on a wet and soggy evening and defeated sectional foe Liberty 59-55. The boys in black-and-orange were led by junior Matt Ryan, who finished the contest with 22 points.

"I thought this was going to be a 50-50 game," Bowling said. "I thought we were close with Liberty last year. They had a lot coming back. We had a lot coming back. This is a tough place to play. I'm proud of the way we played."

The difference between the first half and second half for the Bobcats was like night and day. Summers County scored only 20 points in the first half and only six in the opening quarter. Luckily for them, it didn't go smoothly for Liberty, either.

The Raiders, who were coming off of a victory over county rival Independence and a close loss to Class AAA Logan, came out cold, scoring only 22 points in the two opening frames.

In the second half, however, Summers County did what Peter Frampton and Frankenstein's Monster did best — they came alive.

After failing to find a rhythm early, Summers County stepped on the gas pedal defensively, forcing turnovers that allowed Jacob Lively and Ashton Garten to find Ryan and freshman Andrew Richmond in transition.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pound ninth-grader scored 15 points.

"He's going to be a good player," Bowling said of Richmond. "He's pretty good now. He doesn't know quite where to be sometimes, but he's coming along. I'm really impressed with his growth."

Growth seemed to be the theme of the night for the Bobcats, who not only showed how far they've come as a team since last season, but also how far Ryan has come from a physical standpoint.

The junior Ryan packed on muscle while rehabbing from an injury and has learned to use his new size to his advantage.

"It's helped me with my speed," he said. "It's helped with my north and south and lateral movements. Under the basket, I'm able to body up more. Last year I was skinny and kind of afraid of those guys. Now I'm not."

Ryan used his speed and size to help spread the court on transition and score easy buckets near the hoop.

"I thought Matt played really well," Bowling said. "I thought Jacob and Ashton did a great job making the outlet passes to him.

“We made a commitment coming out of the half to come out and get the ball down the floor and to use our speed to our advantage."

Liberty did manage to cut the game close late, after being down by 10 with only a few minutes remaining.

Down two with less than 30 seconds left in the contest, senior point guard Austin Roop forced a turnover and found a wide open Dylan Keel in the corner, who was unable to sink the shot.

It was just that kind of night for Liberty, which will be forced to regroup before hosting the Little General Classic Holiday Tournament Thursday and Friday night.

When asked what the biggest problem for the Raiders was, coach Aaron Pauley had a few to mention.

"Bad shooting, bad defense, bad transition defense. You name it," he said. "It's not what we've been doing for the last week.

“It's not what we've been doing since day one. They played with no emotion. That's what you get when you don't play with emotion. You let them outrebound you. You let them outhustle you and you get beat."

It wasn't all negative for the Raiders, however as Tyler Sloan, Tanner Cantley and Dylan Dickens all showed what they're capable of, scoring 14 points off the bench.

"The bench didn't hurt us too bad tonight," Pauley added. "They played well and did what they were supposed to do. We're finding minutes for them and hopefully as the season progresses, we'll find more minutes."

With three quality opponents — Independence, Shady Spring and Mount View — still to come to Glen Daniel this week, Pauley hopes this game will be a learning experience.

"I told the boys from the start that I'm not concerned about our record," he said. "I want us to improve every game. They've got to work hard and forget about tonight. They can think about what they could have done better and look ahead to the next day."

Independence and Shady Spring will open the tournament at 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by the Raiders and Mount View at 8 p.m.

The championship game will be played at 8 p.m. Friday with the consolation game taking place at 6 p.m.

Summers County will host Richwood Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

jrollins@register-herald.com

/ Twitter @JDanielRollins.

SUMMERS COUNTY (1-1)

Matt Ryan 9 2-2 22, Ashton Garten 4 2-5 11, Jacob Lively 4 0-0 9, Anthony Cales 1 0-0 2, Andrew Richmond 5 5-5 15, Dillon Smith 0 0-0 0 Braxton Adkins 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 9-12 59.

LIBERTY (1-2)

Dylan Keel 1 0-0 3, Austin Roop 0 0-0 0, Devin Acord 2 6-6 10, Tre McDowell 7 0-0 15, Trevor McGhee 4 1-2 9, Tyler Sloan 4 0-0 9, Tanner Cantley 1 2-2 4, Dylan Dickens 1 3-4 5. Totals: 20 12-14 55.

Summers County..........6 14 24 15 — 59

Liberty.............................8 16 17 14 — 55

3-point goals: SC: 4 (Ryan 2, Garten, Lively); L: 3 (Keel, McDowell, Sloan). Fouled out: None.
Nightly Roundup
Game Scoreboard
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT SCORE
Summers County 6 14 24 15 0 59
Liberty-Raleigh 8 16 17 14 0 55
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