Trailing 31-24 at halftime, Boone County knew exactly what they needed to do to comeback. Get back to how they’ve been playing all year.
“I just told them at halftime, we need to come out in the second half and we need to be the ones being more physical,” said Boone County Head Coach Nathan Browning. “We need to go back to the games we’ve been playing all year long. And they came out and did just that.”
The Rebels outscored the Indians 42-23 in the second half as they muscled their way to a 66-54 victory to improve to 6-1.
Maddox Jones and Mason Hall, Boone County’s leading scorers, got going early in the second half after being held to just seven first half points combined. Jones scored 12 of his 20 in the third quarter alone, scoring four straight coming out of the break before Elijah Bodkins tied the game up with a 3-pointer. Hall put the Rebels back ahead with a basket and went on to score 13 of his 15 in the second half.
“Maddox has been a leader for us and he knew at halftime that he hadn’t played very well. He kind of lit a fire under their butt and he does a good job of that,” said Browning. “Mason came out and he was all over the place. He didn’t shoot the ball particularly well from the outside, but he went in and muddied it up. He fought and scrapped and clawed under there and got rebounds and finished around the basket for us.”
More important than their offensive turn around, was the Rebel’s ability to disrupt the Holy Cross offense. The Rebels forced turnovers, blocked shots, and turned this game around with their defensive tenacity.
“We had active hands. We were getting deflections. We were getting steals. Our guys were more active with their feet sliding over helping the helper,” said Browning. “We just executed much better in the half court, and we stopped their transition offense.”
After trading baskets for a majority of the third quarter, the Rebels finally broke things open when Bodkin nailed two free throws to extend the lead to 46-38 going into the fourth quarter. A lead that Boone County never let get below seven for the rest of the game. The experience of Boone County showed late with their ability to control the pace, slow down their offense, and protect the lead.
“Since we had the lead we knew we didn’t need to rush,” said Boone County guard Thomas Williams. “It was just slowing the ball down, running our plays, and taking care of the ball.”
Much credit is due to Williams and his leadership as the point guard of the team. He is currently the fourth leading scorer on the team, but his willingness to get other guys open and protect the ball is detrimental to the success of the Rebels. He shows poise under pressure and selflessness with his teammates while also being able to go and get his when need be.
“He could score 40 points if he wanted to, but he’s just an unselfish player,” said Browning. “He runs our stuff, gets us in our offense does a great job of trying to execute how we want him to execute. He’s just doing a really good job of being that team guy that we need him to be for us to win games.”
Williams had two highlight plays in this game including a no-look pass to Hall that showed off his passing skills and a steal on the defensive side that led to him throwing down a dunk.
“That was like a motivator for us,” said Williams on his emphatic slam.
Holy Cross outscored the Rebels 15-8 in that second quarter and looked as if they might pull away.
“We did an unbelievable job covering our game plan from an offensive standpoint and a defensive plan,” said Holy Cross’s first year Head Coach Ricardo Johnson. “We came out with a sense of urgency, fire from the tip.”
The Indians first half success was riddled by the struggles in the second half. An inabilty to finish possessions defensively on the glass and too many turnovers led to Holy Cross falling to 5-2 on the season.
“We have to be able to convert our success into the second half,” said Johnson. “We had opportunities to capitalize and we didn’t, opportunities to make those tough plays and we didn’t. It’s a learning experience. Marathon continues.”
Holy Cross’s marathon continues Friday night as they will take on Bracken County at 7:30 p.m. Boone County plays Wednesday night in the Capital City Classic Holiday Tournament against Franklin County.
Rebels 66, Indians 54
Boone County -16-7-22-20 – 66
Holy Cross -16-15-7-16 – 54
Scoring
Boone County (66): Jones 20, Hall 15, Williams 10, Bodkin 12, Moore 5, Clos 4
Holy Cross (54): Arlinghaus 20, Urlage 9, McElheney 7, Hunt 10, Goetz 5, Adams 2, Crail 1
Game stats
3-Pointers Made: Boone County 3, Holy Cross 4
Free Throws: Boone County 10/20, Holy Cross 23/31
Fouls: Boone County, Holy Cross 17
Records: Boone County 6-1, Holy Cross 5-2