Red Devils storm back in 2nd half to claim district title

FLATWOODS — Trailing by seven at halftime, Russell head coach Derek Cooksey challenged his team, hoping to get a response.

Well he got his response and it was heard loud and clear.

The Russell Red Devils roared back in the third quarter and got huge individual efforts from their cast of players to beat the Raceland Rams 57-45 on Friday night in the 63rd District Championship game at Russell High School.

"So at halftime, I'll be honest, we're lucky to be down seven. You can change this, but we have to do it in the first 2-3 minutes of the third quarter," said Russell coach Derek Cooksey. "We went back to basics. We guarded man-to-man, mixed up some match-ups, and usually when our kids are challenged they respond."

Russell had four of its five starters reach double figures in the win. Ryder Burgess was the high-point man with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 steals. Senior Tyler Cordial came up big in the second half and finished with 15 points and 3 boards. Kaiden Benge and Gabe Pridemore finished with 11 points.

Defensively, the Red Devils forced 20 turnovers - including 10 during the fourth quarter. Benge was a key part of those fourth quarter takeaways with 3 steals and finished with a 5 on the night.

The Rams controlled the flow of the game with contributions coming from everyone throughout the first quarter.

Key plays such as Eli Evans' steal for two and Arnett knocking down a pair of 3-pointers helped the Rams secure a 14-11 lead after one.

The momentum would carry over into the second quarter with Arnett starting things off with an off-balanced shot from the foul line and Charles Welch putting back a miss to cap off an 8-0 run for Raceland.

Burgess would keep the Red Devils within reach with some huge scoring plays during the second frame. A put back off his own missed shot and a runner in the lane gave the sophomore guard 7 points in the quarter. Pridemore also chipped in a tough drive between two defenders for the only other points in the quarter for Russell.

Arnett would score one more time to end the half on an outlet pass from Jacob Waller to send the Rams into the locker room with their largest lead of the game at 27-20.

Cooksey knew the only way his team was going to comeback was through their defense.

"I'm a traditionalist. My dad coached for a long time and he says you got to get defensive stops. We're a good offensive team, and there's a lot of good offensive teams out there too. Difference is if you can make stops and rebound."

Russell would get those needed stops right out of the gate in the third, turning Raceland away on 6-straight possessions and Cordial would get the crowd warmed up with a 3-pointer that touched every part of the rim before going in to get the Red Devils within 27-25.

Benge would tie the game with a rebound off a miss and score on a spin-o-rama in the lane for the put back with 4:08 on the clock.

Russell would finally grab the lead when Pridemore buried a shot from the corner to give his team a 30-29 lead with 2:33.

The empty possessions early in the third was something that Raceland coach Joe Bryan knew would haunt his team against a high-powered offense like Russell.

"We couldn't ever get a basket when we really needed one to stop the bleeding," said Bryan. "We expected it from them but we weren't able to get that one bucket to get over it."

Arnett would score 6 more points in the third to help the Rams keep pace, but Russell would carry a 38-35 lead in the final quarter.

In the fourth, the Red Devils would continue to turn the pressure up on the defensive end, holding Arnett scoreless in the quarter and finally getting separation on the scoreboard.

A couple of key plays re-energized the crowd and brought the house down.

Following a missed shot under Russell's basket, Benge would come up with a steal off the rebound and drive back along the baseline for the score to make it 43-35.

Then Cordial would deliver the exclamation point on the victory with a one-handed jam in transition to give the Red Devils its largest lead of the game at 56-35.

Despite having 8 different players score, Arnett was the only Ram to hit double figures with a game-high 20 points.

Bryan praised his junior guard on his all-around effort and having to balance between scoring and defending.

"Jonah is our leading scorer, but most people don't recognize he gets the other team's best player every night," said Bryan. "So not only does he lead us in scoring, he's guarding the best offensive player. So he does it all for us."

"We're gonna enjoy this for a couple of days. We still have some things we need to take care of, but we're ready to move on to Morehead and see what we can do."

Raceland 14 13 8 10 = 45

Russell  11 9 18 19 = 57

RACELAND (19-10): Jase Walker 0 0 0-0 0, Eli Caines 0 0 0-0 0, Eli Evans 1 0 1-2 3, Brantley Deweese 0 0 0-0 0, Jacob Waller 1 0 0-0 2, Jackson Waller 0 0 0-0 0, Jonah Arnett 6 2 2-4 20, Josiah Large 1 0 0-0 2, Gage Douglas 0 2 0-0 6, Eli Branham 0 0 0-0 0, Brody Bradshaw 2 0 0-0 4, Gage Douglas 0 1 0-0 3, Jayden Thornburg 0 0 0-0 0, Charles Welch 3 0-0 6. Totals: 14 4 5-8 45. Rebounds: (O-7, D-18) 25 (Welch 7, Evans 5, Caines 4). Assists: 3 (Large 2). Steals: 4 (Evans 2). Blocks: None. Turnovers: 20. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Arnett (4th, 2:06), Caines (4th, 1:40).

RUSSELL (20-5): Gabe Pridemore 3 1 2-2 11, Jagger Prickett 0 0 2-4 , Samuel Runyan 0 0 0-0 0, Ryder Burgess 4 2 2-2 16, Ashton Daniels 0 0 0-0 0, Gage Tackett 0 0 0-0 0, Kaiden Benge 3 1 4-4 13, Corbin McGrath 0 0 0-2 0, Jacob Glasser 0 0 0-0 0, Issac Craft 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor White 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Cordial 4 2 1-2 15, Landon Hammer 0 0 0-0 0, Caleb Groves 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 6 11-16 57. Rebounds: (O-10, D-13) 23 (Benge 7, Burgess 6, Pridemore 4, Cordial 4). Assists: 9 (Prickett 3, Benge 3). Steals: 11 (Benge 5, Burgess 4). Blocks: 2 (Burgess, Benge). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: None.