The Baylor Red Raiders took a short road trip for a basketball game at Red Bank’s Susan Ingram Thurman Gymnasium Tuesday night. They headed back home a couple of hours later with two wins, but they weren’t easy.
At least, the second one wasn't.
The Baylor girls began the evening with a 51-15 victory over the Lady Lions, but the game between the guys was a totally different story as Baylor improved to 10-3 with the 50-46 win.
It was a win-win situation for Red Bank as this was a non-district game against a really good opponent, so coach Nick Fike could only feel good despite his team coming out on the short end of the score.
“The effort and energy was there, but we could have done a better job on the 50-50 balls and the rebounding, but that’s a really good team we just played and I don’t think we’ll see anyone in our classification any better,” Fike said after his Lions dropped to 12-5 on the season.
“It was a real defensive battle on both sides and that’s my the score was so low, but I feel like we’re moving in the right direction. It wasn’t easy matching up with them, but we’re making progress and that’s all I’m interested in. This was kind of a barometer game where we just wanted to know where we are, but games like this will only help us on down the road,” Fike added.
Baylor coach Mark Price knows that the potential is there for the Red Raiders to have a pretty good team. He knows it’s still early, but he’s far from pleased with the way his team is performing.
“Red Bank did a good job and made things tough on us as we just didn’t shoot the ball well and we missed too many layups,” he said after a lengthy talk with his team and later his assistant coaches.
“We got some good looks, but we just didn’t finish well. The good news is that we did enough to leave here with a win. Red Bank had a nice comeback and even took the lead in the third quarter, but I’m just proud that we didn’t fold,” the veteran coach added matter of factly.
The Red Raiders might not have shot the ball as well as coach Price would have liked, but they got off to a good start.
T.J. Fields swished a 3 from the wing with 6:13 left in the opening stanza to break a 2-2 tie as Baylor scored 11 of the next 13 points in the next three minutes for its biggest lead of the game at 16-4 with 3:22 showing.
The difference was 18-8 when the first quarter ended.
Red Bank got two free throws from Anthony Bonner and Kendrick Lloyd to get the Lions within six at 24-18 with 55.9 seconds left in the half before Baylor’s Jack Shutters sank two from the charity stripe to extend the Red Raider lead to 26-18 at intermission.
Shutters scored on a dunk to start the second half, but Red Bank kept battling and took the lead at 31-30 after going on a 13-2 run.
Malik Rizer gave Red Bank its first lead with 3:08 left in the third quarter on a putback, but Shutters scored on a putback and Nyzaiah Whaley converted a layup for a 34-31 lead with 1:51 left in the third and Red Bank never regained the advantage.
The Lions got within two points three times in the final two minutes, including a 3 from Jaylen Rice with two seconds left to make it 48-46, but Zane Restelli sank two free throws right after to put the game out of reach.
Whaley was the only Baylor player in double figures as he finished with 12. Fields and Restelli were next with nine and eight points, respectively.
Bonner was tops for Red Bank with 15 points while Lloyd had eight and Kamaron Johnson seven.
Baylor had an unofficial 28-23 advantage in rebounding as Shutters had 10 while Bonner had six and Rice five for the Lions.
BAYLOR GIRLS 51, RED BANK 15: Baylor led from the start as a 12-5 lead after one quarter stretched to 24-13 by intermission, but the Lady Red Raiders totally blew the game open in the third when they had a 25-0 scoring advantage.
Riley Oleksik led the way for Baylor with 11 points while Kaylee Snyder added 10 and Sloane Watson eight.
Journey Holloway had eight points for the Lady Lions while Malika Odum had the other seven.
GIRLS SUMMARY
BAYLOR 12 12 25 2 -- 51
RED BANK 5 8 0 2 -- 15
BAYLOR (51) – Moore, Leach 2, Riley Oleksik 11, Shelton, El. Carico 6, Thompson, McDonald, Kaylee Snyder 10, Willis 6, Sanders, Ro. Oleksik, Merritt 6, Watson 8, Tennant 2, Em. Carico.
RED BANK (15) – Wade, Wiley, Montgomery, Duer, Houston, Ervin, Bullock, Stoudemire, Holloway 8, Odum 7.
3-Point Goals: Baylor 2 (Watson 2), Red Bank 2 (Holloway, Odum).
BOYS SUMMARY
BAYLOR 18 8 10 14 -- 50
RED BANK 8 10 15 13 -- 46
BAYLOR (50) – Barton 6, Nyzaiah Whaley 12, Fields 9, Sixto, Born 5, Shutters 6, Sacas 4, Restelli 8.
RED BANK (46) – Collier 4, Anthony Bonner 15, Rice 6, Johnson 7, Lloyd 8, Stewart, Rizer 4, Crutcher 2, Wilbur.
3-Point Goals: Baylor 6 (Fields 3, Whaley 2, Born); Red Bank 2 (Bonner, Rice).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)