Blues fall to Carroll County in district battle

By DAVE COX/Staff

Just how much does senior center Devon Johnson mean to the Richlands boy’s varsity basketball team?

Well, without Johnson, who had another commitment, the Blues lost 87-35 to Carroll County earlier this season at Hillsville and with Johnson, well, the Blues still lost to the Cavaliers last Saturday at the Richlands Middle School, but it was much more respectable!

Johnson, the Blues’ leading scorer who was coming off a season-high 40 points against Abingdon earlier in the week, poured in a team-high 20 points against CCHS and collected yet another double-double with 18 rebounds in a 59-54 loss to the Cavaliers last Saturday. The win gave Carroll County (15-2, 7-0) the regular season title.

Another RHS player who has been red hot as of late is Gabe Hunsaker. He joined Johnson in double-double land with 18 points and 10 rebounds against the visitors. Hunsaker fired in a trey and Johnson blocked two shots for the Blues. Ben Brown played another steady game with 11 points, including a trey. Eric Harris had three points and Zach Johnson two.

Ryan Gravely topped CCHS with a game-high 21 points, including one trey. Conner Lundy added 15 points for the Cavaliers. Lundy kicked in four treys. Wes Smoot managed 12 points for Carroll.

The Blues stayed right with the Cavaliers in the first two quarters and the game was knotted up at 25-25 at halftime, but a Cavalier 10-0 run to start the third quarter dug a hole just too deep for the Blues to escape.

The Carroll County junior varsity team (13-1, 6-1 SWD) bested the young Blues 49-37 behind Josh Blankenship’s 12 and Blake Dalton’s 11 points.

Richlands (6-10, 2-4 SWD) was led by Mark Sahyouni with 12 points, including one trey. Trent Davis finished with nine points, including a pair of treys. Patrick Jackson had one trey and six points. J. T. Anderson and Kyle Call each had four points and Evan Meadows two. Meadows had a block and Call hauled in eight rebounds.