MOUNTAIN PINE -- Mountain Pine's senior boys were not at their best Friday night, but the Red Devils had more than enough firepower to cruise past visiting Poyen.
Despite missing 15 free throws and suffering through foul trouble in the first half, Mountain Pine (13-3, 4-0) had seven players score at least eight points in a 78-46 win at Red Devil Fieldhouse. The win over Poyen (3-10, 2-3) snapped a two-game losing streak for Mountain Pine.
"We have 10 or 11 players that can step in at any given time," Mountain Pine coach LaMont Page said. "That's kind of how I wanted to play, because you never know what can happen at any given moment. I prepare the first five, the second five and the last three to come in the game and play just like everybody else does."
Senior big man Tyler Zander shouldered the scoring load in the first quarter, dropping 11 of the team's first 15 points as the Red Devils opened on a 19-3 run to set the tone for the rest of the game.
"At home, we always want to come out and play our best," said Page. "Like I've always told them, offensively I don't care who scores, but defensively I want us to set the tone. I want us to play Mountain Pine defense."
The Indians bounced back with five points from senior Jordan Turner and four points from senior Michael Goodman, but Mountain Pine held a comfortable 27-13 lead at the end of the opening period.
Goodman's basket pulled Poyen within 29-18 early in the second quarter before the Red Devils regained momentum. Zander scored four points, while sophomore Kwin Staggers and senior Matt Snow each connected on 3-pointers as the Red Devils pushed their lead to 46-26 at the half.
"I think once the guys looked up and saw that they were actually in a battle, then they turned it on," Page said. "I've known Poyen's coach (Blue Kesterson) a long time and his teams are always going to play hard. They're going to come in and give it all they've got."
After a quick basket by Mountain Pine's Fay Haywood to open the second half, Goodman answered with a layup to cut the lead to 20, but the Indians got no closer. Seven Red Devils combined for 24 points in the third quarter, doing most of their damage inside the paint, as Mountain Pine stretched its lead to 70-42 entering the final frame.
"I feel like in the first part of the season we have relied a lot on our outside shooting, and I think we kind of fell in love with our jump shot," said Page. "The way I coach this team to be is attacking the basket, drive and then kick. The last two games we didn't shoot the ball well, so I made it an emphasis in practice this week for everybody to attack the basket."
With the game all but over, Mountain Pine's Elijah Browning scored six points in the fourth quarter, putting the exclamation point on the win with a steal and transition dunk in the final minutes.
Zander led all scorers with 17 points, while Haywood finished with 13 points, sophomore Cason Porter had 12 points and Browning added nine points. Snow, Staggers and senior Matthew Herron each scored eight points for the Red Devils.
Junior Jesse Benning paced the Indians with 10 points. Goodman and Turner each finishing with eight points.
Mountain Pine will host Ouachita Tuesday night.
"We just need to stay consistent with our effort," Page said. "We have a team where anybody on any given night can step out and score 15 or 16 points, but we need to focus on giving a good defensive effort every single night. We still have room to improve. If we can win by 30 points and still not play a good game so to speak, then I'm happy with that."
Sports on 01/07/2018