WOODBURY – Cannon County wrapped up the 8-AA regular-season title with a 72-51 win over Livingston Academy Tuesday evening in a game that was never in doubt after the Lions dominated the second quarter.
The Lions overwhelmed the Wildcats with their full-court pressure defense and outscored Livingston 26-10 in the second quarter.
Livingston Academy came into the game with only two district losses (21-6, 10-2 8-AA), one game behind Cannon County (23-5, 11-1) in the standings. A Livingston Academy win would have put the teams in a tie for first.
“Against Livingston Academy, we know they’re a great team,” said Cannon County senior guard Josh Ruehlen, who led the Lions with 28 points – 22 in the first half. “We know that they can compete for the district title. So we wanted to make sure we got it done tonight.”
The Lions’ full-court pressure caused the Wildcats all sort of problems in the first half. The Wildcats committed 11 first-half turnovers bringing the ball up the floor.
The Lions were able to convert the turnovers into baskets. Ruehlen was the beneficiary of many of the points off turnovers. He was 5-of-6 from the field in the second quarter, 4-of-4 from the free throw line, and had a 3-pointer, totaling 15 points.
“Our defense is high tempo, so I get a lot of open looks in transition because of my teammates, credit them,” said Ruehlen.
Jacob Nave scored 17 and Marshall McReynolds had 14 in the win for Cannon County. It was the first undisputed regular-season district title for the Lions since 1999. Last season, Cannon County finished in a three-way tie for first place with Upperman and Livingston Academy and it came down to a coin toss, which Upperman won.
Coach Matt Rigsby said he didn’t tell his players about the significance of the game, but he knew that they knew it anyway.
“We never discussed it,” said Rigsby, in his eighth season coaching Cannon County. “That’s an intelligent group of young men. They knew it. In the day and age of social media, coacht, twitter, they knew what was at stake.
“We told them it doesn’t matter who we play, we have to be ready to focus and do our job. And those guys did their job.”
The Lions defeated Livingston Academy 73-72, in a game on Jan. 9.
