Devils snuff out Boyd threat

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January 27, 2010

By BRANDON ROSEN — For The Independent The Daily Independent Wed Jan 27, 2010, 12:08 AM EST

Russell — For one half, Boyd County looked like a team that was ready to avenge its loss to Russell in its first game of the season.

Unfortunately for the Lions, the second half belonged to the Red Devils as Russell beat Boyd County 72-50 Tuesday night at Marvin Meredith Gymnasium.

Russell opened the game with a fast-paced 8-2 run, hoping to put Boyd County away early. But the Lions were able to withstand Russell’s full court pressure and avoided turning the ball over, which plagued them in their first meeting, during the first half.

Once settling down, Boyd County (1-14) went to its inside game and fed the ball to its two post players, sophomore Jacob Mayse, who scored seven of his 13 points in the first half, and freshman Brandon Lowe, who scored seven of his team-high 15 points in the first half as well.

The Lions battled back from the early six-point deficit in addition to a seven-point hole later in the half to trail Russell by only three, 32-29, at the end of the first half.

“Boyd County is very improved,” said Russell head coach Merle Kidwell. “We knew it wouldn’t be the same score as the last time we played them, and had a lot of trouble guarding them in the half court. Lowe was a tough matchup for us, and when we had to double down on him they kicked it out and to their credit knocked down some shots and stayed in the game.”

Boyd County turned ice cold in the second half as Russell turned to its zone defense and held the Lions to only six second-half field goals.

“We decided to go to the zone in the second half and it turned out to be the difference in the game for us,” Kidwell said. “We covered their shooters well and didn’t give up second shots, and that’s what allowed us to pull away.”

Boyd County struggled to knock down anything against Russell’s zone, and Russell took advantage by outscoring the Lions 21-8 in the third quarter, thus building the comfortable lead Kidwell hoped to have at the beginning of the game.

“I thought it was important for us to jump out to a good start, which didn’t happen, and gave them some confidence going into the second half,” Kidwell said. “But our zone gave them some problems, and their best shooter, Eric Gindlesperger, had some looks but they just weren’t falling. Thankfully we took advantage of it.”

Russell opened up the second half behind senior guard Tanner Alexander, who came off of the bench to score a game-high 16 points, 11 of which came in the second half.

“I was really pleased with how Tanner played tonight,” Kidwell said of his guard. “Tanner was a spark and led us off the bench. Sometimes it’s hard when you don’t start, and I’ve rotated starters all year. But I tell my guys, ‘when we go to the bench we want to get better,’ and we got better tonight. Tanner led us with his 16 points, and I thought Casey (Stapleton) gave us a lift in the second half, and hopefully this will give us the confidence we need going into a big week.”

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