Chase Ridenour, Myles Rasnick leading Webb's way

One-on-one games can get intense at Webb boys basketball practice, in the way anything between well-matched friends does.

Chase Ridenour and Myles Rasnick typically match up against each other. After six years of playing each other, the two seniors know each other’s strengths, weaknesses and tells. And neither wants to give way to the other.

“Practice can get intense in the moment,” Rasnick said.

That pays off in games. Ridenour and Rasnick stand out in games – both have over 1,000 career points and Ridenour is making moves on the school record. True, one can pick the other up if he’s having a bad game, and there are other teammates who can step up if both are cold. But when they’re both on, the game flows from them.

Friday’s third quarter against Grace Christian certainly did. The Spartans went into the half trailing 28-24. They came out of the break and went on a tear. Ridenour and Rasnick took care of most of the scoring. Their combined 19 points were more than either team had in any other quarter.

Ridenour, a Tennessee Tech commitment, scored 10 points in the third and 22 in the game. Rasnick had nine in the third and 25 in the game. They combined for more than three-quarters of Webb’s scoring in the 60-49 win.

That’s the thing that makes them dangerous. Even though you know the ball is going to Ridenour and Rasnick, it’s hard to stop them.

“When we run the offense, especially when we run set plays, we try to run it through these two guys,” coach Ricky Norris said. “They’ve been here so long, they know how we want to play. In my opinion, that’s why they’re so good. It’s not the numbers, but they take shots in the flow of our offense.”

Ridenour gets most of the attention as the team’s leading scorer, the one who hit 1,000 points as a junior and the one who could break the school record. Norris thinks Rasnick is a little underrated comparatively.

“Myles does so many other things that no one notices,” the coach said.

Rasnick is a hard-nosed defensive player. He’s 6-foot-1 and went for a hard block on 6-foot-8 Baylor Younker on Friday. Rasnick was called for a foul, though he thought he was clean (he’s not complaining, though, because it’s hard for an official to see everything).

For now, Rasnick and Ridenour have Webb atop Division II District 1-A at 4-0 and sitting as one of the top teams in II-A overall at 18-3. The Spartans’ only losses have come to Baylor, one of the top teams in II-AA, Bearden, No. 1 team in I-AAA, and North Mecklenburg out of North Carolina.