No. 1-ranked Stars shine vs. Pioneers
MURFREESBORO — The state’s top Class AAA team lived up to its No. 1 ranking Friday night.
The Siegel Stars, who debuted at the top of last week’s Associated Press high school basketball poll, jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, as they defended their home hardwood with a 72-49 victory over Warren County.
With the loss, the Pioneers dropped to 4-12 overall, and remain winless in District 7-AAA play at 0-6. Siegel improved to 13-1 on the year, and 5-1 in league play.
A 12-0 run early in Friday’s game gave the Stars an early lead, and was sparked by strong offensive rebounding, which came easy for a Siegel team with a starting lineup featuring 6-foot, 8-inch junior Lucas Jones and 6-7 forward Keith Ramsey.
Numerous turnovers in the first half helped contribute to the Pioneers’ demise, as the WCHS offense went without a point for two long spans which added up to the equivalent of an entire quarter of play.
During Siegel’s first scoring run, the Pioneers were held off the board for 3 minutes and 41 seconds, then WCHS went without a point for over five minutes in the second, allowing a 22-16 Siegel lead to balloon to a 34-16 advantage.
While the Stars’ twin towers were banging the boards inside, Darius Roper provided some killing blows from the perimeter, nailing four first-half 3-pointers as his team doubled the Pioneers’ production and led by intermission 36-18.
Ramsey scored nine of his team’s 22 points in the third quarter, showing his versatility with a dunk, a 5-of-6 percentage at the free-throw line, then backing out at the 18-second mark and nailing a 3-pointer which put his team on top 58-36 heading into the fourth.
Brandon Adcock scored six of the Pioneers’ 13 points in the game’s final stanza, but WCHS could never get closer than 20 points as Siegel cruised to its 10th straight victory.
Adcock and Todd Gilley finished with 13 each for Warren County, while Adam Wood had six and Brooks Majors scored five. Warren Swann had four points, while Andy Harrell, Jonathan Morris, Josh Nunley and Ethan Womack chipped in two each.
Ramsey finished with a game-high 24 to lead the Stars, who got 13 points from Roper and a dozen each from Jimmy Oden and Rod Alexander.
Warren County faces off against former head coach Doug Keil and his Lebanon Blue Devils on the road Tuesday night.