Raiders roll to 2-0 start
SUBMITTED PHOTO
South Ripley’s Blaine Ward became the sixth player in program history to reach 1000 career points. Ward scored 24 points as part of his historic night and has 45 points combined after the first two games of the season.
South Ripley boys basketball maintained the Ripley Publishing “Pride Trophy” on night one and one of the area’s star players reached a career milestone on night two as the Raiders dominated inside their first two games of the new season.
It is the first 2-0 start for South Ripley under head coach Seve Beach and the first since the 2020-2021 season when the Raiders started 5-0 en route to a 21-2 record.
Tuesday night’s season opener in Versailles saw the Raiders shrug off a rusty first couple of minutes and never look back as part of a dominant 72-23 final over county and conference rival Jac-Cen-Del in the annual Turkey Shootout. South Ripley’s slow start quickly turned into a 20-3 first quarter run that was followed up with a 17-5 surge in the second frame which built up a massive 29-point lead.
A 35-point lead in the third quarter triggered the IHSAA’s running clock mercy rule and South Ripley finished out the game with a 33-15 edge.
It’s no secret who South Ripley’s top two players are and seniors Cole Henry and Blaine Ward showed why on Tuesday, both scoring in double figures as each had spurts of controlling the game for the green and white. Henry scored 12 points in the third quarter and finished leading all scorers with 22 points while Ward dazzled in the first half with 16 points and ended up at 21 points for the night. Sophomore Drew Volz was next in line for the Raiders with eight points and classmate Dylan Jessee sat at seven points.
Chase Youngman, a transfer from North Decatur, scored 10 points in his Jac-Cen-Del debut.
It was a well-balanced effort on Saturday night at home for the Raiders as South Ripley once again fired on all cylinders and blew out Ohio River Valley Conference foe Rising Sun by an 84-39 final score.
Neither Saturday nor Tuesday counted towards the ORVC standings. South Ripley plays Rising Sun again on February 21 before going to Jac-Cen-Del one week later.
South Ripley used back-to-back first half runs of 28-11 and 28-12 to lead 56-23 at halftime and a running clock followed shortly as an 18-9 run in the third quarter furthered the blowout status. Rising Sun’s best quarter would be the fourth when they would only be outscored 10-7 by the Raiders.
Saturday night belonged to Ward who became the sixth player in program history to reach 1000 career points as he finished with 24 points, 18 of which came in the first half. That mark allows him to join Henry as part of the 1000-point club and make history in the process as that duo now becomes the first pair of 1000-point scorers on the same South Ripley team. The two will now look towards climbing up the career scoring list and sights are set on program leading scorer Cody Samples (2021) who sits atop that list with 1,429 points.
Other 1000 point scorers at the school include 1978 graduate Steve Allen (1,287), 1996 graduate Kris Cranfill (1,259) and the late Joel Pflum (1,041) who graduated from South Ripley in 2004.
Ward’s 24 points led all scorers in the contest and that was followed by three others in double figures. Henry scored 17 points in the first half and finished with 19 points, freshman Blake Gunter went for 13 points and Chancie Volz scored seven points in the third frame to wrap up with 11 points.
Brody Morris led Rising Sun with 15 points. Ryan Neal and DJ Williams added nine points apiece.
South Ripley (2-0) plays one game this week and will be on the road Saturday night at North Decatur.
TUESDAY’S TURKEY SHOOTOUT
at South Ripley
SOUTH RIPLEY 72,
JAC-CEN-DEL 23
JCD – 3. 5. 7. 8. – 23
SR – 20. 17. 21. 12. – 72
JCD (0-1) – Chase Youngman 10, Darian Grieshop 6, Lane Simon 3, Johnny Newhart 2, James Pardhanai 2, Landen Asche 0, Lane Carroll 0, Luke Simon 0.
SR (1-0) – Cole Henry 22, Blaine Ward 21, Drew Volz 8, Dylan Jessee 7, Blake Gunter 6, Bryson Sipples 5, Chancie Volz 3, Landon Werner 0, Brogan Buchanan 0, Mason Bascom 0, Ethan Schmaltz 0.
3-Point Goals – JCD 3 (Youngman 1, Grieshop 1, Lane Simon 1), SR 5 (Ward 3, C.Volz 1, Jessee 1). Total Fouls – JCD 14, SR 13. Free Throws – JCD 6-11, SR 13-18. Fouled Out – None.
SATURDAY’S BOYS BASKETBALL GAME
at South Ripley
SOUTH RIPLEY 84,
RISING SUN 39
RS – 11. 12. 9. 7. – 39
SR – 28. 28. 18. 10. – 84
RISING SUN (0-2) – Brody Morris 15, Ryan Neal 9, DJ Williams 9, Derriance Pitts 4, Carson Wilson 2, Caleb Powell 0, Brandon Burris 0, Landen Simpson 0, Owen Markland 0.
SOUTH RIPLEY (2-0) – Blaine Ward 24, Cole Henry 19, Blake Gunter 13, Chancie Volz 11, Drew Volz 5, Dylan Jessee 5, Landon Werner 4, Bryson Sipples 3, Brogan Buchanan 0, Ethan Schmaltz 0.
3-Point Goals – RS 4 (Neal 3, Morris 1), SR 8 (Ward 3, C.Volz 2, Jessee 1, D.Volz 1, Sipples 1). Total Fouls – RS 11, SR 13. Free Throws – RS 9-14, SR 10-15. Fouled Out – None.
