Lions avoid Red Devils wild comeback attempt in key Region 16 showdown

FLATWOODS — A late scoring surge in the final minute by Russell nearly sent the game into an extra frame on Wednesday night. But in the end, the Boyd County Lions held on to earn a 76-73 win over the Red Devils at Marvin Meredith Gymnasium in a battle of Region 16 contenders.

Going into the game, Russell coach Derek Cooksey knew that Boyd's experience would be a huge test against a much younger Red Devil squad.

"When you're dealing with a very veteran, experienced and well-coached team, we knew they would come out and challenge us early. You got to tip the cap, they've been right there with Ashland as the top teams around here. But at the end, I thought that showed the heart and determination our kids have."

Boyd (17-5) got another huge game from Jacob Spurlock as the senior guard piled in a game-high 36 points, 11 rebounds and a pair of steals. The Mr. Basketball candidate did much of his damage in the fourth quarter, hitting several key shots from the field and going 4-of-4 from the foul line.

Three other scorers hit double figures for the Lions, including Malachi Payne who finished with 13 points, Caleb Rimmer had 12 points, and Gunner Woods added 11.

The Red Devils (14-5) were led by Ryder Burgess with a team-high 18 points and 5 rebounds. Tyler Cordial turned in a big game from the pivot with 17 points, 8 rebounds and a pair of blocked shots. Gabe Pridemore reached double figure scoring with 12 and a pair of assists.

Boyd appeared to be coasting to another win after Gunner Woods sank his second free throw attempt to make the score 76-67.

The Red Devils scored quickly on a putback from Pridemore and burned their final timeout.

That's when chaos ensued.

On the ensuing inbounds pass, the ball was knocked from Ethan Rardon's hands by Cordial and Kaiden Benge picked up the ball and hit a jumper in the paint. Then Benge would steal the following inbounds pass right under his own basket and lay it in to cut the score to 76-73 with just 6 seconds remaining.

Rimmer would be fouled, but couldn't convert either free throw and Russell retained possession after a foul by Boyd.

With one final chance to send the game to overtime, Benge tossed the ball into Prickett who drove the length of the floor and shot a fall-away 3-pointer from the wing and the shot was off the mark and Boyd held on to win.

Boyd County coach Randy Anderson didn't like the way the game finished, but knew his team couldn't give chances like that to Russell.

"Second half, (Russell) is very skilled and I just felt like we gave them too much space at times," said Anderson. "We've got to be better and that's on me, discipline-wise there at the end. You don't finish games that way."

Russell started to get some momentum in the second quarter from behind the arc. Burgess hit a triple to cut Boyd's lead down to four after Taylor White came down with an offensive rebound and kickout. Then Jagger Prickett hit from way beyond the 3-point line off a transition play to cut the deficit to 25-22 at the 4:28 mark of the quarter.

The Lions answered Russell's run by attacking the rim with 5-straight buckets down low to push their advantage back out to 35-24 with just over 2 minutes remaining in the half.

Rimmer capped off the first half with a 3-pointer from the top of the key as time expired to send the Lions into the break with a 44-31 lead.

"We've had a really good year at answering at key times," said Anderson. "Those are things that normal people don't see. Ethan (Rardon) came up with some big rebounds. Gunner (Woods) played extremely hard. But some how, some way our guys understand that those things are important and have done a good job all year long."

Down by 13 at the break, Cooksey said he had to warn his players' what was coming at the beginning of the second half.

"We challenged them at halftime and said you're going to get their best those first couple minutes of the half. Then they went out and got up 17 and I called a timeout and said this is a make-or-break point. If this snowballs, it's going to be tough to regroup for a while."

The Lions opened up the second half and pushed their lead to its largest of the game when Spurlock scored underneath after head-faking a couple defenders to make the score 48-31 just 60 seconds into the half.

Russell would chip away at the lead, getting as close as five when Cordial slammed home a one-handed dunk.

However, Spurlock would nail a fadeaway jumper from the baseline and then come up with a steal for a layup at the buzzer to finish off the third frame and set the table for the finish.

Despite the loss, Cooksey felt it was still a good night of basketball and hopefully his kids' can build on this game.

"It was a great environment  tonight. But hopefully we see them down the road," said Cooksey. "Plus, we have some big games here down the stretch to help us get ready for the tournament."

Boyd Co 21 23 16 16 = 76

Russell  16 15 20 21 = 73

BOYD COUNTY (17-5): Jacob Spurlock 10 2 10-10 36, Gunner Woods 3 1 2-4 11, Clark Huff 2 0 0-0 4, Ethan Rardon 0 0 0-0 0, Malachi Payne 5 0 3-4 13, Caleb Rimmer 3 2 0-2 12, Jacob Carter 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 23 5 15-20 76. Rebounds: (O-6, D-25) 31 (Spurlock 11, Rardon 5, Payne 5, Rimmer 5). Assists: 7 (Spurlock 2, Rardon 14, Payne 2). Steals: 6 (Spurlock 2, Woods 2, Rardon 2). Blocks: 1 (Rimmer). Turnovers: 7. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None.

RUSSELL (14-5): Gabe Pridemore 4 0 4-4 12, Jagger Prickett 4 3 0-0 14, Ryder Burgess 1 4 4-4 18, Kaiden Benge 3 2 0-0 12, Corbin McGrath 0 0 0-0 0, Taylor White 0 0 0-0 0, Shae Burnham 1 0 0-0 2, Tyler Cordial 6 1 2-2 17. Totals: 18 9 10-10 73. Rebounds: (O-8, D-14) 22 (Cordial 8, Burgess 5). Assists: 9 (Pridemore 2, Burgess 2, Benge 2). Steals: 5 (Benge 3). Blocks: 4 (Cordial 2, Prickett, Burgess). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 12. Fouled out: None.