Young, Harris combine for 55 in Colts win

WILSON – Jayden Young and Buddah Harris both posted big numbers as the Rivercrest Colts overcame a sluggish start to defeat Newport, 75-59, Friday.

The junior tandem scored 31 and 24 points, respectively, allowing Rivercrest (12-5, 5-2 3A-3) to avenge a 10-point loss to the Greyhounds (18-6, 6-3) earlier this season.

“Someone just told me that (Jayden) and (Buddah) had close to 60 points combined,” said Rivercrest head coach Hunter Robinson. “If that happens, you have a pretty good chance to win any game. Big game by those two.”

Though the pair finished with dazzling point totals, buckets were tough to come by early for the Colts as Newport opened the game in a man-to-man defense. The host team hit just one field goal in the first quarter and it came at the 1:42 mark of the period.

Young’s beat his man to the basket for an easy deuce but Newport was up 21-9 at that point.

“It really surprised us,” explained Robinson of the man-to-man look. “I thought (Newport) would come out in a zone and that caught us off guard when they didn’t.

“We want teams to play us man,” he continued. “We were out of rhythm early but I was excited to see they came out in man. If you give us a chance to get to the rim, we can beat anybody off the dribble.”

And the Colts chose to drive the hole either looking for a basket or a foul call.

And the referees obliged whistling Newport for 23 fouls which resulted in 35 free throw attempts for the Colts, who connected on 24. Rivercrest outscored the Greyhounds by 13 at the charity stripe – nearly the point differential in the game.

The fouls mounted for Newport as two of their players fouled out – Demetric Denton and Tyler Ridley – in the second half.

“They’re super athletic, long, and it’s tough to score over that wall,” said Robinson, “but we kept plugging away and hit some big shots.”

Offensively, Newport was clicking on all cylinders in that first quarter, making 9-of-15 field goals – eight of which came in the paint. Robinson countered with a defensive adjustment which paid dividends for the Colts.

“We came out in a 3-2 zone but they attacked it really well and they scored 20-plus in the first quarter,” said Robinson. “We went to our I-and-3 where we chase three of them and keep two in the lane. That gave them some trouble. They scored what 37-38 (points) over the last three quarters?”

The coach was right on the money with his recall as the Colts limited the visitors to just 38 points over the final 24 minutes of the game.

The Colts collect 17 steals and forced 13 turnovers rallying to over-take the Greyhounds just before the half.

Young, who had six steals, wrestled away the basketball and raced to the hoop for an easy two. The Colts had their first lead of the game at 32-30 with 24 seconds left before the break.

The Greyhounds came only as close as one point the rest of the way. When Denton went to the bench with 3:15 left in third quarter, Rivercrest outscored Newport, 31-17, over the final 11 minutes of the game.

In order to offset the 10-point loss earlier to Newport, Robinson knew his team had to win by that margin or more.

“It’s big,” he explained of the importance of the win. “That’s why I called that late timeout. I reminded our guys that Newport beat us by 10 there and we needed to do that, too.

“It gives us a chance,” said the coach, whose team still has two games left with league-leading Osceola. “We control our destiny now. We’re gonna take it one game at a time and see where it takes us.”

Rivercrest had the opportunity to avenge its other conference loss with a home game at Manila Tuesday, followed by a makeup game against Osceola Thursday.

“It’s a big, big week for us,” concluded Robinson. “We just need to protect our home court and we’ll be right in the mix.”

In addition to his 24 points, Harris had six rebounds, five steals and four dunks, including a windmill slam to cap the scoring. Cavonta Washing-ton tallied nine points, while Jamaris Byrd chipped in seven points and nine rebounds.

Eddie White paced Newport with 24 points and he grabbed 10 rebounds. Denton scored 10 points, collected nine rebounds and dished out three assists before fouling out. Ridley contributed eight points and eight rebounds.