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NL uses strong second half to down Rebels
By Brent Wilburn
The Paris News
Published November 22, 2009
BOGATA — While sitting in the locker room after two quarters of futility, the North Lamar Panthers knew it was time for a change.
Those halftime adjustments worked wonders for the North Lamar team, as it rebounded from some early maladies to claim a convincing 46-30 victory over the Rivercrest Rebels at Rebel Gym on Friday in the season opener for both teams.
Rivercrest held a 17-14 lead after the first two quarters, but North Lamar opened the second half with a 3-pointer by T.J. Shirley and buckets by Austin Parson and Riley Chipman to score 10 unanswered points and take the lead for the remainder of the contest.
The biggest difference for the Panthers was their defense in the second half, which they used to score plenty of points in transition.
“In the second half, we made a few adjustments,” North Lamar head coach Homer Garner said. “We talked about how to handle what they were doing to us. We started attacking the rim and getting to the foul line and really pushed the ball up the court and got a lot of transition points in the second half. That was the biggest thing – scoring off defense.”
That second-half turnaround came after a first half full of mistakes by overeager players who lack varsity experience. Only four (Chipman, Parson, Dillon Wilson and Chris Burns) of the 10 players on the North Lamar roster were on the team a year ago. That lack of experience was the same for the Rebels, who had only two players (Seton Hawkins and Kyle McCuller) from last season’s team on the roster for Friday’s game. Neither of those players were consistent starters last season.
The inexperience was glaring for both teams in the first quarter, as neither team put a point on the scoreboard until about three minutes had ticked off the clock. The first basket was a short jumper by Chipman, which he followed with a layup a short time later to give North Lamar an early 4-0 lead.
Rivercrest responded with a jumper by Aaron Burns and a pair of free throws by Brady Kennedy to tie the game. North Lamar went on to take an 8-4 lead in the quarter before a Jacob Wright 3-pointer closed the deficit to one point at the buzzer.
The Rebels took their first lead of the game early in the second quarter after a layup by McCuller. McCuller scored six of Rivercrest’s eight points in the frame and allowed Rivercrest to take a three-point lead at halftime.
After intermission, the Panthers went on a tear and outscored the Rebels 19-5 in the third quarter. North Lamar extended its lead to 16 points late in the fourth quarter, which allowed Garner to insert every player on his roster into the game.
“It was good to get a win and it was good for us to play everybody because we need to get a gauge on a bunch of these new players who haven’t played in an actual game to see how they’d react in a game,” Garner said.
Chipman was the top scorer for North Lamar, as he finished with 17 points and nine rebounds. Parson had 11 points.
McCuller led Rivercrest with eight points. Hawkins chipped in with seven points.
North Lamar is scheduled to travel to face New Boston at 7 p.m. Tuesday, while Rivercrest travels to face Avery at 7 p.m. Monday.
North Lamar 8 6 19 13 — 46
Rivercrest 7 10 5 8 — 30
North Lamar (1-0): Riley Chipman 17, Austin Parson 11, Chris Burns 6, Canyon Conley 5, Dillon Wilson 4, T.J. Shirley 3. Threes 1 (Shirley 1). FT 5-11. Fouls 19.
Rivercrest (0-1): Kyle McCuller 8, Seton Hawkins 7, Brady Kennedy 4, Jacob Wright 3, Kevondrick Savage 3, Aaron Burns 2, John English 2, Jordan Thompson 1. Threes 1 (Wright 1). FT 11-22. Fouls 13.
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