Richlands wins county showdown

By DAVE COX/Staff

Only five Richlands basketball players scored against Tazewell in a Southwest District boy’s varsity basketball match up on Tuesday, January 31, but that was plenty enough as all five posted double figures in a 78-67 win over the Bulldogs in front of a packed house at the Richlands Middle School gym.

Each of the starting five RHS players hit the double-digit mark in a spirited battle that turned into a trey fest in the third stanza. The Blues made five long range shots in the quarter and Tazewell had two perimeter shots to fall in the frame. Both squads finished with seven trey each in the game.

Devon Johnson turned in his usual stellar performance for Richlands (6-10, 3-4) with a double-double. Johnson had 18 points, 24 rebounds and two blocked shots. He threw down a thunderous dunk to start the second quarter. Ben Brown also posted 18 points, courtesy of five treys, a regular basket and a free throw. Brown had seven rebounds as the Blues out-rebounded the Bulldogs 53-37. A. J. Johnson was on fire with 15 points, a block and eight rebounds. Eric Harris ripped the nets for 13 points, blocked a shot and retrieved six missed shots. Harris also nailed one trey. Gabe Hunsaker turned in 12 points, including one trey and he made all three of his foul shots in the contest.

Blake Hash was the big man for Tazewell (9-9, 3-3 SWD) with 20 points, including a pair of treys to top all scorers. Hash connected on 8-of-10 free throws in a 20-of-27 night at the charity stripe for the THS team. John Walker had a big game with 18 points and eight rebounds. Walker tossed in two treys and made all six of his foul shots. Colin Hancock had three treys and finished with 11 points. Noah Walker was saddled with foul trouble and sat out much of the second half before eventually fouling out with seven points. He yanked down six rebounds and blocked two shots on defense. Jalen Jordan managed five points and Christian Lewis and Ryan Hankins three each. Hankins was a force on the boards with 10 rebounds.

“We have to play smarter,” said Tazewell head coach Lee Walker, whose team had just two brief leads in the game. “We let them talk to us on the court and break our concentration in a couple of places. You can’t do that. You can’t give a good team any advantage like that, especially on the road.”

RHS grabbed a slim 17-14 lead by the end of the first quarter only to watch the visitors take a 16-12 advantage in the second frame to hold a 30-29 lead at halftime. Richlands really opened the game up with a 32-13 third period and a 24-15 Tazewell fourth was just not enough for a Bulldog victory.

“I told the guys that we had an eight-point lead, and we just stood around too much and let Tazewell take about five rebounds and three or four loose balls out of our hands in the last few minutes of the second quarter,’ said RHS head coach Jody Fuller. “I challenged them a little bit. I told them that whoever gets the ball in traffic is going to win. It was up to us and I think they responded in the right way after they came back out of the locker room.”