St. Marys’ 3 barrage sinks Ravenswood boys
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ST. MARYS -- Tyler Wilson started a Saturday afternoon 3-point shooting clinic early in the first quarter for host St. Marys as the Blue Devils concluded the regular season with a 20-2 record after blowing past Ravenswood, 70-44.
In a battle of ranked Class AA programs, each of whom have the top seed in their respective sectional, the No. 2 Blue Devils took complete control early on as the fifth-ranked Red Devils (18-4) had a seven-game winning streak snapped.
"I think our kids ought to know from that, that if they show up for a sectional game like that they will be running track real quick." said RHS boss Mick Price, whose team trailed 45-18 at halftime as the hosts canned 9 of 11 from deep in the first half while finishing 12 of 15 from beyond the arc and shooting 58.1% (25 of 43) for the game.
Big man Luke Powell, who had 11 points and a game-high eight rebounds, opened the scoring with a deuce and it was tied at two after Matthew Carte, who had a team-high 16 points, canned a pair of charity stripe tosses for the Red Devils.
However, Wilson's trifecta at 6:15 of the first put the Blue Devils, now winners of five straight, ahead for good. Another Powell bucket was followed by Grant Barnhart's first deuce for a 9-2 lead. Blake Ball, who tied Powell with a game-high three swats, scored inside to make it 9-4, but Wilson proceeded to hit two more 3s and it was 20-6 at the 1:14 mark when Brandon Lawhon connected from downtown.
Ravenswood was never able to cut into the 20-8 deficit after one. Barnhart, who led all scorers with 30 points while dishing out a game-high eight assists, sank a trey to open the second quarter scoring 66 ticks in.
An Ashton Miller bucket made it 23-10, but Lawhon answered with another 3.
Powell knocked down two more treys and Barnhart had one to make it 41-18. SMHS, though, was able to take a 27-point lead into the break. Barnhart added two free throws with 1.3 seconds remaining and prior to that he scored off a Shane Moran assist.
Back on Jan. 14, the Blue Devils won 66-62 at Ravenswood, which returns to action at 7 p.m. Friday against Tuesday's Class AA, Region IV, Section 2 winner between Roane County and Charleston Catholic.
"When we went to the Pit we talked about it and we said there would probably be another little team called Poca that would win here and that's probably it," said Blue Devil head coach Mark Barnhart.
"A couple weeks ago we had four games in six days. We went to Charleston and played Charleston Catholic at Institute. We played Fort Frye in overtime at Fort Frye and then we came back and played Scott here and then went to Van.
"Starting last week we were back to a typical week and we've done that two weeks in a row. That's more of the norm, not the four games between Monday and Saturday. I think we obviously looked like we had more legs."
After Barnhart's 3 made it 50-20 with 6:23 to go in the third, the Red Devils had their best scoring run. A 3 by Beau Bennett along with deuces from Logan Alfred, Shawn Banks and Carte helped close the gap to 51-29. Waylon Moore assisted on a Wilson bucket and a Barnhart 3 before Ashton Boron's jumper put the Red Devils behind 58-32 heading to the fourth.
St. Marys returns to the hardwood at 7 p.m. Friday against the winner of Tuesday's Class AA, Region I, Section 1 affair between Magnolia and Ritchie County.
"Both of those teams are very good and it's never easy with them," coach Barnhart added. "They are good, well coached and we'll be in a dog fight either way."
Wilson finished with 14 points and was joined in grabbing six caroms by Moore. Miller finished with seven points while Carte had a game-high three steals.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com