Big Red pulls away to top Creek
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WINTERSVILLE -- Big Red coach Mike Haney feels like his team is at its best when its defense is creating the offense.
After a little bit of a slow start and a couple of adjustments, that's exactly what sparked a Steubenville victory Tuesday night on Coach D Court.
After trailing at the end of the first quarter in what looked like a 3-point contest early, Big Red started creating turnovers and turned up the defense while holding host Indian Creek to single digits in the second and third on the way to a 54-39 win.
"We were trying to change our defenses up a little bit and got confused and kept leaving them open shots … we talked to our guys about finding our guys in man or zone and attack the shooters and after that we did pretty good," Haney said. "They had 12 points combined in the second and third quarter after having 15 in the first so our defense really picked it up.
"That's usually how our best offense works -- through turnovers and being up-tempo and scoring in transition."
Big Red (6-6) went on a 14-0 run in the second quarter to take control and never relinquished it after that. Santino Haney, who netted a game-high 20, capped the run with the final six points of it. He converted an and-one and before knocking down one of his game-high four 3s on the next possession.
Big Red, which finished with as many 3s and two-pointers, 10 each, scored its first 21 points from beyond the arc on seven early triples. Keith Lewis (11 points) and Trey Wiggins (11 points) each knocked down three treys.
"That was nice," coach Haney said of the early triples. "They came out in zone and packed it in, we were able to hit some shots (from the outside) and that kind of helped get us going."
Creek (4-10) was able to keep pace early, largely in part to three Bryson Kamarec (15 points) triples, and led by as many as four before his late trey broke a tie in the closing seconds of the first quarter, but went cold and never seemed to get its offensive momentum back.
"I always say when that happens you give credit to the opponent and how they played defensively," Indian Creek head coach Joe Dunlevy said. "They forced some turnovers which meant we didn't get shots and we didn't shoot well enough. Give them a lot of credit, they play a really tough schedule and they do a really good job of playing together."
Kamarec netted 11 of his 15 in the opening quarter. After that, Big Red scored 40 of the next 56 points and led by as many as 23 in the fourth quarter.
UP NEXT
Big Red: Has a quick turnaround to host a makeup game against Brooke tonight.
Indian Creek: Travels across the river to Weir High on Thursday night.
Big Red 54, Indian Creek 39
Big Red 12-17-12-13 – 54
Indian Creek 15-4-8-12 – 39
BIG RED (6-6): Kernahan 1 0-0 2; Wiggins 4 0-0 11; Haney 7 2-2 20; Hopkins 1 0-0 2; Casinelli 0 0-0 0; Adams 1 0-0 2; Lewis 4 0-0 11; Lester 2 0-0 4; Gulan 0 0-0 0; Rea 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 20, 2-3; 54.
INDIAN CREEK (4-10): Bonecutter 1 0-0 3; Bodo 3 0-0 8; Eddy 0 0-0 0; Kamarec 6 0-0 15; Moore 1 0-0 2; Lester 0 0-0 0; Tweedy 0 0-0 0; Saffle 1 0-0 3; McGrew 1 0-0 2; Shultz 1 0-0 2; Freshwater 1 2-2 4. TOTALS: 15, 2-2; 39.
3-POINT GOALS: Big Red 10 (Haney 4, Wiggins 3, Lewis 3); Indian Creek 7 (Kamarec 3, Bodo 2, Bonecutter, Saffle).