BLACKSVILLE- Ritchie County put together a nearly flawless first half Wednesday night, and coupled with ice-cold shooting from Clay-Battelle, the Rebels advanced to the state tournament in Charleston following a 68-48 victory inside a packed Statler Wilson Gymnasium.
With the win, Ritchie County (17-6) was awarded the No. 7 overall seed in next week’s state tournament. The Rebels will play Tug Valley in the first round.
The game turned late in the first quarter after the Cee-Bees (17-6) overcame a quick Rebels start to tie the game at 10-10 with 1:30 remaining in the quarter. From there, Ritchie County’s one-two punch of forward Isaac Hodges and guard Seth Cronin began to dominate offensively, Hodges in the paint and Cronin from the perimeter.
At the same time, C-B’s normally accurate shooting touch disappeared from the entire team, despite good looks and good-looking strokes. The ball wasn’t falling for the Cee-Bees, while the Rebels couldn’t miss, and a 7-0 run to finish the first quarter extended with eight more points in the first 90 seconds of the second – a demoralizing three-minute, 15-0 run. By the end of the half, the Rebels had run up a surprising and commanding 34-16 bulge.
Clay-Battelle desperately needed a quick start to the second half, but it was Richie County who buried a pair of treys and a lay-up for another 8-0 run to extend their lead to 26. But the Cee-Bees refused to surrender, as they buried three threes while gritting out a string of tough defensive stops, and a buzzer beating triple from Colt Sandy pumped up the home crowd and cut the lead to 49-35 after three.
The Cee-Bees continued to claw back, getting to within ten at 45-35 midway through the final quarter, but an offensive foul call followed by Cronin’s driving lay-up kept C-B at bay, and the lead never narrowed the rest of the way. Hodges led all scorers with 24, Cronin added 18, and Turner Shriver hit several big baskets on his way to 13 points for the winners. Trey Huggins scored 14 to pace the Cee-Bees, and Cooper Payton also reached double figures with 10.
Following the game, after running over to acknowledge the large contingent of jubilant Rebels fans who made the long road trip in support of the team, Ritchie County coach Kenny Church asserted that his team, “Isn’t made up of a bunch of the best basketball players, but they all embrace their role. They’ll do whatever it takes to win, and that’s exactly what they did tonight. We played really well on both ends of the court, especially in the first half. It was a great team win for us, and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Clay-Battelle coach Josh Kisner lamented his team’s inability to get shots to fall, especially early in the game.
“They shot the lights out in the first half, and we just couldn’t find the bottom of the basket at the same time, and that’s never good,” he explained. “We had good looks, but we might have settled for threes a little too much. I was really proud of the way we battled back, getting it down to ten in the fourth, but it seemed like every time we had a chance to pull closer, they’d hit three or four in a row. Games go that way sometimes.
“But I told the kids that this game does not define them. They’ve done such a great job helping to grow the program, and I’m proud of every one of them. We’re losing eight seniors (Sandy, Huggins, Payton, Braden Ponceroff, Kooper Statler, Jaxon Huggins, Josh Wilson, Tyler Sleeth), but we’re going to bring up eight new players next season, and so it’s rebuild, retool, and reload. Our goal is to give ourselves a chance to go to Charleston every year, and we’re ready to get to work.”
Box score
Ritchie County – 17 17 15 15 – 64
Clay-Battelle – 10 6 19 13 – 48
RICHIE COUNTY (17-6)
Jenner Keen 3 0-0 8 Seth Cronin 6 4-5 18 Turner Shriver 6 1-2 13 Isaac Hodges 9 5-6 24 Carter Satterfield 0 1-2 1 Totals 24 11-15 64
CLAY-BATTELLE (17-6)
Braden Ponceroff 0 4-8 4 Colt Sandy 4 0-0 9 Cooper Payton 4 0-0 10 Kooper Statler 2 0-0 4 Trey Huggins 4 3-3 14 Maddox Kisner 3 0-0 7 Totals 17 7-11 48.
Three Point – RC 5 (Hodges, Cronin 2, Keen 2), CB 7 (Kisner, Sandy, Payton 2, T. Huggins 3). Fouled Out – CB (Payton).
