All 5 starters score double figures as Red Devils burn up Musketeers

FLATWOODS — Like the Nike slogan says Just Do It.

For Russell, they wanted to do what has made them successful early on this season... and they did.

The Red Devils dominated in nearly all phases of the game and piled up the score to post a 96-65 win over the Greenup County Musketeers in a 64th district match-up at a packed Marvin Meredith Gymnasium on Friday night

"We came out and wanted to do what we've had success with. But hats off to Greenup, they're capable of shooting the basketball, said Russell coach Derek Cooksey. "I felt like we gave up some shots early on, so we decided to get down and guard traditionally."

Russell's success on offense was exemplified by all five starters hitting double figures on the night with Jagger Prickett headlining. The sophomore earned a triple-double with 13 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists.

Gabe Pridemore was the high-point man for the Devils with 24 — including a second period where Pridemore scored 13 of his points — and a pair of steals. Ryder Burgess scored 21, Tyler Cordial patrolled the paint with 20 points and 14 boards, and Kaiden Benge added 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.

Cooksey felt the main key to their success was taking care of business inside on the defensive end to get his players in transition and play their brand of basketball.

"I thought our length and physicality kinda created some turnover opportunities and we were really good in transition tonight. I think our guys ran with purpose."

The Red Devils certainly cleaned up on the glass, as they out-rebounded the Musketeers 34 to 20, with Cordial pulling down a game-high 14.

"We played down and dirty down there," said Benge afterwards. "My job was to keep Adkins off the boards and I think I did pretty good tonight. We knew if we could give the ball to Tyler in the paint, they couldn't answer that."

Russell used a 7-0 to break right out of the gate and take control. Cordial started it all with a put back off a miss, then a layup and a triple in transition from Burgess forced the Musketeers to burn an early timeout just 1:45 into the game.

Greenup managed settle in and even a had chance to cut the Red Devils' lead down to 5, but a layup attempt from Chaffins was rejected by Cordial, then Prickett took the ball down the floor and dished to Cordial for two and get the bench and home crowd roaring.

Russell (11-2, 2-0 district) took full control in the latter stages of the first period when Prickett drove to the basket for a score and ignited a 13-4 run that spanned the final 90 second of the first and ended nearly four minutes into the second when Pridemore drained a triple from the wing to make the score 31-13.

The Red Devils finished the first half shooting nearly 76% from inside the arc, with Cordial leading the inside attack with 14 points.

However the outside game was also rolling as Russell was 7-of-14 from the 3-point line, with Pridemore and Burgess hitting three times from deep.

Burgess credited most of the offensive success to the teams' selfless approach and getting the ball to

"We move the ball very well. We make the extra pass every single time because we don't care who scores," said Burgess. "Whoever makes the shot, we don't care. We don't care who gets 20, 30 points. Whoever scores, scores."

Pridemore put an exclamation point on the first half scoring with a steal and lay in for his 17th point of the half and a 47-27 lead at the break.

In the third, the Musketeers offense got a boost from Keiron Jenkins as the sophomore guard knocked down three 3-pointers and a coast-to-coast layup where the ball floated over the outstretched arm of Cordial.

Jenkins finished the night with a game-high 25 points to be one of the huge bright spots for the Musketeers in the loss.

But the Red Devils still won the third frame, out-scoring Greenup 21-19 with both Cordial and Burgess scoring 6 points apiece.

Jenkins did create one of the more exciting moments of the game when he pulled down a rebound and launched a shot from just past Russell's own three-point line and hit a shot at the buzzer to make the score 68-46 entering the final quarter.

Burgess was happy to not only get a big district win, but to also get a win over the county rivals.

"It feels great. I'm happy we got a good win at home and got the subs to play. We showed we were the better team tonight. It was an awesome night."

Greenup Co 9 18 19 19 = 65

Russell  22 25 21 28 = 96

BATH COUNTY (6-7, 0-1): Keiron Jenkins 5 5 1-2 25, Kasey Gammon 2 0 3-6 7, Kyler Robinson 0 0 0-0 0, Camryn Chaffins 2 1 0-0 7, Landry Lewis 1 0 0-1 2, Cam Underwood 1 0 0-0 2, Hunter Holbrook 1 1 2-4 7, Bradley Adkins 1 0 2-2 4, Gavin Roy 1 1 0-1 5, Trice Carter 1 1 0-0 5, Jamison Reed 0 0 0-0 0, Owen Collier 0 0 0-0 0, Brody Howard 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 15 9 8-15 65. Rebounds: (O-3, D-17) 20 (Gammon 4, Holbrook 4, Chaffins 3). Assists: 5 (Gammon 2). Steals: 4. Turnovers: 5. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.

RUSSELL (11-2, 2-0): Gabe Pridemore 6 3 3-3 24, Jagger Prickett 5 0 3-3 13, Ryder Burgess 5 3 2-3 21, Ashton Daniels 0 0 0-0 0, Kaiden Benge 3 2 0-0 12, Corbin McGrath 0 2 0-0 6, Jacob Glasser 0 0 0-0 0, James Timberlake 0 0 0-0 0, Issac Craft 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor White 0 0 0-0 0, Landon Williamson 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Cordial 10 0 0-1 20, Caleb Groves 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 29 10 8-10 96. Rebounds: 34 (Cordial 14, Prickett 11, Benge 7). Assists: 18 (Prickett 11, Benge 3, Cordial 3). Steals: 4 (Pridemore 2, Benge 2). Blocks: 4 (Cordial 3, Burgess). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: None.