English
EspañolRUSSELL It was fitting that on the same night the 50th season of Survivor premiered, two teams in the 63rd District battled for their season to survive.
But for Raceland and Lewis County on Wednesday, the difference maker wasn’t an immunity idol, a secret advantage, or a shot in the dark.
It was Jonah Arnett.
With 3:49 remaining in the game, Rams coach Joe Bryan called timeout with his team trailing 33-31.
Out of the break, Raceland tallied a 10-2 run to close the game and secure the 41-35 victory to keep the Rams’ season alive.
And all 10 points came from Arnett.
“Jonah is the man,” Bryan said. “Jonah is our dog. He doesn’t say a whole lot; he just goes about his business on both the football field and the basketball court and gets the job done at an exceptional level. He’s a great kid with great parents, and I’m very blessed to coach him.”
It was the second game-shifting run for Raceland, with the first one also kick-started by Arnett early in the third quarter.
Trailing 21-19, Arnett sank a 3 to kickstart a 9-0 run that put his team in the driver’s seat of the contest.
But the Lions refused to go away.
Clutch consecutive 3s from Daylen Bivens and Julian Puente helped Lewis County retake to lead in the final frame, but Bryan knew a timeout was needed to regroup his Rams players.
“I told the guys in the huddle that two 3s in a normal game probably aren't a big deal back-to-back, but when the score is in the 30s in the fourth quarter, it can seem like a mountain,” Bryan said. “I just wanted to make sure we were focused. This group has been resilient; they’ve battled. I’m really proud of the way they came back. I’m proud of my kids, their toughness, and their effort tonight.”
Arnett hit his first three baskets after the timeout, but a lay-in by Puente had Lewis County within one possession of Raceland with under a minute to play.
It was up to Arnett to seal the game from the free throw line. Arnett hit four to finish the matchup and end Lewis County’s season.
“I told them in the locker room, this is my sixth year as a coach at Lewis County, and this is hands down my favorite team that I've coached since I've been here,” Lewis County coach Scott Tackett said. “It’s simply because they loved each other. You could tell that everybody was playing for the right reasons all year long. They were very coachable. Once we got healthy in early January, we played excellent basketball.”
Arnett finished as the game’s leading scorer with 19 points while Bivens led the Lions with 17.
Bivens and Puente were two of the senior leaders on the Lewis County team. Tackett knows that while all of the seniors were aiming to keep their time together going, the group remains a talented class who can achieve big things.
“I’ve got five seniors in there that are very upset right now,” Tackett said. “But I can tell you this: they’re going to be very successful in life and we're going to miss them. They've left their mark. They are just a super group.”
The 3-point shot refused to fall much of the night for the Lions. The team, which came into the night shooting just above 30% from behind the arc, made just three out of 16 attempts.
But despite the cold shooting, the Lions' effort to retake the lead late in the game showed the character Tackett has seen all year.
“It’s just that grit,” Scott said. “That is a gritty bunch with a lot of guts. They’ve never quit. They sat down in a stance and guarded for 32 minutes. If you’d have told me that we’d hold that bunch to 41 points, I’d think we would have won pretty easily. Tonight was just a night when the ball wouldn't go in the hole for us.”
Raceland not only keeps its season alive with a ticket to the region tournament, but also has a chance to take down Russell for a district crown.
Bryan knows his guys are ready to execute their game plan.
“I tell my kids that slowing it down and being tough and guarding people isn’t the funnest way to play basketball, but in the postseason, that’s what wins games,” Bryan said. “That has been our message for about a month now. They’ve followed it perfectly. They battled, and I’m just a very proud coach regarding how they executed the game plan, especially defensively. They know what the job is. They know what our expectations are, and we’ll be ready for Friday night.”
RACELAND FG FT REB TP
Caines 1-3 1-2 5 3
Evans 1-2 1-2 2 3
Waller 1-4 0-0 4 3
Arnett 6-12 6-8 4 19
Large 1-1 0-0 1 3
Welch 4-7 2-2 8 10
TEAM 2
TOTAL 14-29 10-14 26 41
FG Pct.: 48.2. FT Pct.: 71.4. 3-pointers: 3-7 (Large 1-1, Waller 1-1, Arnett 1-2, Caines 0-1, Evans 0-1). PF: 7. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 13.
LEWIS CO. FG FT REB TP
B. Puente 0-1 0-0 0 0
Miller 1-4 0-0 1 2
J. Puente 3-14 0-1 2 8
Dunaway 0-3 0-0 0 0
Detillion 1-2 0-0 0 2
Gerike 3-5 0-3 3 6
Bivens 7-11 0-0 8 17
TEAM 2
TOTAL 15-40 0-4 16 35
FG Pct.: 37.5. FT Pct.: 0. 3-pointers: 3-16 (Puente 2-7, Bivens 1-3, Gerike 0-1, Miller 0-2, Dunaway 0-3). PF: 13. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 7.
RACELAND 7 12 9 13 — 41
LEWIS CO. 8 11 4 12 — 35
Officials: Davey Fields, P.D. Harris, Gavin Ramsey.
(606) 326-2658 |