Dominant 1st quarter sparks Red Devils past Wildcats in home opener

FLATWOODS — A dominating performance on both end of the court by Russell helped them cruise to an 88-39 win over the Bath County Wildcats on Tuesday night in the home opener for the Red Devils.

"I told the kids it was a very business-like approach," said Russell coach Derek Cooksey. "We showed a lot of maturity in their prep work this week and that's what we want to look for at this time of the year."

Ryder Burgess spearheaded the offensive output for Russell. The sophomore guard scored a game-high 18 points — including four 3-pointers — and had 4 steals on the night.

Three other Russell players reached double figures, with big man Tyler Cordial scoring 14 points in the paint and pulling down 5 boards, Gabe Pridemore finished with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 4 steals, and Corbin McGrath connected four times from behind the arc for 12 points and a pair of steals.

The Red Devils came out firing on all cylinders right from tip-off with a 10-0 run that featured 3 consecutive steals in the backcourt and converted into layups.

Bath's Cooper Cox tried to keep the Wildcats close, scoring all 8 points in the opening frame and the team's first 10 points.

Later in the opening frame, Russell got back-back-to-back steals to widen their lead.

The first came when Burgess pickpocketed his man at midcourt and went in for a layup. Pridemore picked off the ensuing inbounds pass at midcourt, leading to Benge scoring underneath. Then Benge stole the inbounds pass which led to Burgess burying a 3-pointer in the corner to make it 17-3 at the 2:39 mark of the quarter.

The defensive pressure did the job, as 7 different Russell combined for 11 steals in the opening quarter to open up a 26-8 lead.

It was much of the same in the second quarter as the Red Devils outscored Bath 26-7 in the frame.

Cordial took over down low, scoring 10 of the team's points during the quarter. One sequence saw Cordial poke the ball loose for steal on the defensive end, then was rewarded on the other end when Pridemore hit Cordial trailing the fast break for a lay up to make it 46-15 with just over 2 minutes remaining before halftime.

McGrath capped off the first half with a triple from up top following a feed by Kaiden Benge to make the score 54-15.

In the third, Burgess hit twice from deep to lead with 6 points. Taylor White scored 5 and McGrath hit another triple to highlight the scoring in the quarter.

Both teams emptied their benches during the final period as Issac Craft scored 5 and Jacob Glasser had 4 points to lead Russell during the frame.

The Wildcats were led offensively by Issac Ulery with 18 points and Cox with 10 points and 3 rebounds.

Cooksey said that now the team can turn their focus to a big district match up when rival Greenup County comes to town on Friday night.

"We got a big one coming up. Greenup is much improved. I know coach Sutton very well and I'm not surprising that they've had success. This will be a good test early on."

Bath County 8 7 8 16 = 39

Russell  26 28 22 12 = 88

BATH COUNTY (4-9): AJ Garrison 1 1 0-0 5, Parker Cox 0 0 0-0 0, Issac Ulery 3 3 3-3 18, Cooper Cox 3 1 1-1 10, Mason Dillon 0 0 0-0 0, Hunter Roland 0 0 1-2 1, Mason Dillon 0 0 0-0 0, Noah Bailey 0 0 0-0 0, Ayden Coyle 1 1 0-0 5, Zane Allen 0 0 0-0 0, Zachary Grigsby 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 8 6 5-6 39. Rebounds: (O-2,D-12) 14 (C. Cox 3, Bailey 2, Grigsby 2). Assists: 4 (Garrison, P. Cox, Roland, Dillon). Steals: 3 (Garrison, P. Cox, Ulery). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 1. Fouled out: None.

RUSSELL (10-2): Gabe Pridemore 5 1 0-0 13, Jagger Prickett 3 0 0-0 6, Ryder Burgess 3 4 0-0 18, Ashton Daniels 0 0 0-0 0, Kaiden Benge 3 0 0-0 6, Corbin McGrath 0 4 0-0 12, Jacob Glasser 2 0 0-0 4, James Timberlake 0 1 0-0 3, Issac Craft 1 1 0-0 5, Taylor White 2 1 0-0 7, Tyler Cordial 6 0 2-2 14, Caleb Groves 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 25 12 2-2 88. Rebounds: 31 (Benge 6, Prickett 5, Cordial 5). Assists: 19 (Prickett 5, Benge 5). Steals: 20 (Pridemore 5, Burgess 4). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.