RBHS varsity basketball defeated Hickman High School (HHS) in the Providence Bowl Tuesday, Feb. 13 with a final score of 62-46.
Stands were packed as the Bruins took the court Tuesday evening to face cross-town rivals HHS at home. The Bruins won the tipoff, but lost the ball and gave up two quick points to HHS senior guard Isaiah Bonaparte on a turnover. After this early hiccup, RBHS was not denied the rest of the game. Junior guard Dylan Davis connected on two three-pointers late into the first quarter, giving the Bruins the momentum they needed to take a double digit lead for the majority of the second quarter. Junior center Reese Minnix was credited with four layups in the first half, playing big under the basket for the Bruins.
Junior forward Brady Davidson, who added a couple three-point shots on his route to 14 points, said he knew the team would gain momentum if they could hit a few big shots early on in the game. “We are a pretty young team learning how to win. For us to play a really talented conference opponent, loaded with seniors, and come out on top was really cool for every kid in our program.” — Ross Barelli, assistant coach
“We knew once we started hitting a few shots we would catch fire as a whole,” Davidson said. “Offensively we wanted to slow the possessions down to get good open shots. I wasn’t surprised at all [at] how Dylan [Davis] was hitting shots, he does it all the time and we rely on him in good matchups like [Tuesday’s] for him to hit those big shots.”
The Bruins were relentless on defense, playing man-to-man all night and causing several turnovers in short spans of time, quickly growing their lead to around 20 points. Davis, Davidson, and senior small forward and guard Jagger Cornell all were credited with steals and blocks in the second quarter.
Assistant Coach Ross Barelli explained that the team is extremely young and they are still figuring out how to win games, but a conference win like this is big for the rest of their season.
To start the second half, HHS implemented a full court press defense that caused the Bruins to panic and turn the ball over multiple times. The Bruins lead was shortened to nine points for a minute in the third quarter. Cornell then scored multiple unguarded points under the basket due to a change in who was bringing up the ball.
The basketball team finished with a 16 point victory in the Bruins’ largest rivalry basketball game of the year. Davis finished with 15 points and Davidson finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 assists.
Davidson explained that he wasn’t surprised with how well the Bruins did on defense, but it was the first time in awhile that they had “played that good.”
“Really I wasn’t surprised at how well we played on defense because I knew we could do it,” Davidson said. “But it was the best defensive game we’ve had in a while from slowing them down to rebounding and getting stops.”
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