Ravenswood's Kelan Lucas looks for a teammate to pass to as Williamstown's Jayden Bryant (12) and Parker Schramm (2) trap him during the Yellowjackets' 50-36 season-opening victory Tuesday night at The Pit. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

RAVENSWOOD — Longtime Little Kanawha Conference rivals and now regional foes Williamstown and Ravenswood collided Tuesday night at The Pit in a showdown of preseason ranked Class AA programs.

In the end, the pressure defense of the No. 2 Yellowjackets was too much for No. 5 Ravenswood to overcome as WHS opened its season with a 50-36 victory.

Cruz Isaly, who had game-highs of 11 rebounds and seven assists, finished with 12 points, which tied him for game-scoring honors with Red Devils Noah Dawson and Colin Layton.

Parker Schramm pitched in 11 points and had a game-high seven steals for the ‘Jackets, who received nine points from Jayden Bryant as well as 10 points and five caroms off the bench from Carson Hill.

“Carson came in and I thought he gave us good minutes,” admitted WHS head coach Scott Sauro, whose club welcomes in St. Marys on Thursday. “I thought (Nate) Nicely gave us good minutes.

Ravenswood's Evan Swain, who scored eight points, goes up for a shot during the Red Devils' 50-36 setback to Williamstown Tuesday night at The Pit. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“I thought Wyatt Powell gave us good minutes and I think we even threw Cedric Davis, a freshman, in there and he gave us a good couple minutes. We were happy those guys were able to come in and contribute.”

Ravenswood and head coach Mick Price, who slipped to 2-1 with Wahama set to invade on Thursday, lost the rebounding (28-21) and turnover battles (23-6).

“You’re talking about some guys who have played for three or four years for them, too. Maybe it’s the first game, but they got a lot of experience on that team,” admitted Price, who got eight points, nine rebounds, a game-high three blocked shots and a pair of steals from Evan Swain. “They are a very good team. You’ll have to play very well to beat them this year. Someone is really going to have to play a lot better or catch Williamstown playing poorly or you are not going to beat them.

“They just got too many weapons. Their press is really good. I think our inexperience on that showed its ugly head a couple of times and just when you don’t need it. You can’t turn it over against a team like that and expect to be successful. I did think our kids did a good job of hanging in there and staying in there. I thought we tried to execute some good things, but we got things to work on.”

Williamstown opened the affair with the first points 1:38 in via a Bryant 3 from a Lynken Joy assist. The ‘Jackets led 9-5, but deuces by Kelan Lucas and Dawson tied it up going into the second quarter.

Williamstown's Cruz Isaly passes to a teammate during the Yellowjackets' season-opening 50-36 victory versus Ravenswood on Tuesday night at The Pit. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

Ravenswood grabbed its first and only lead at 13-11 with 5:30 left in the half when Swain scored inside from an assist by fellow big man Jacob Francis.

However, Schramm had a steal and a two-handed dunk with three minutes left in the half to put the visitors ahead for good at 14-13.

The hosts only trailed 18-15 with 1:37 to go when Dawson had a lay-in from a Carson Varney dime, but the ‘Jackets ended the stanza on an 8-3 spurt to build a 26-18 intermission advantage as Isaly had a buzzer-beating spinning lay-in off the glass.

“It was a tough shooting day for us and that’s not typical for our team, but I will say this – honestly I was glad to see we had a tough shooting day and still kept our defensive intensity for 32 minutes, which tells me these guys are growing a little bit because I think last year sometimes their effort was dependent on how well they were playing on offense,” admitted coach Sauro.

In fact, when Bryant hit a 3 to cap the scoring in the third quarter as RHS trailed 38-28, the trifecta snapped a string of 16 consecutive misses.

Williamstown's Parker Schramm dunks the ball during the Yellowjackets' 50-36 season-opening victory versus Ravenswood on Tuesday night at The Pit. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“Today we did not play very well on offense and we kept that intensity for 32 minutes,” added coach Sauro. “To me that was the biggest factor in the game.

“It was good to come on the road, hostile environment, our first game against the No. 5 team and get a win when we didn’t play offensively very well, so again I’m proud of the kids because it shows me they’ve grown a little bit.”

Although Layton’s 3 to open the second half closed the deficit to just five, the ‘Jackets ran off the next seven points.

Ravenswood continued to fight in the fourth quarter and had it within 10 at 46-36 with 3:52 remaining following a Francis bucket, but couldn’t get any closer.

“Man, I’m telling you, Williamstown will expose all your weaknesses,” stressed coach Price. “They really will because they are so deep and they are so good. They’re not just good basketball players, they are athletically good basketball players. They can cover up a lot of area, especially in their press and the things that they do.

Williamstown's Parker Schramm challenges a shot by Ravenswood's Noah Dawson during the Yellowjackets' 50-36 season-opening victory Tuesday night at The Pit. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

“It’s just something we needed to experience. I can have seven guys on the JV go against us and it’s not the same as having those kids from Williamstown, those athletes, out here. Obviously, I hate losing. I don’t want to lose anytime, but I thought our kids there were times when we stuck in there and we didn’t fold. We could’ve folded a couple times, but we didn’t.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com