The reward is coming up next week, when Blue Ridge gets seven games at home in an eight-game stretch. That will stretch this current road trip to one week shy of two months. In fact that last time the Barons were at home they were 1-0 and the holiday break was two weeks away. But that’s doesn’t seem to a problem. On wednesday, unbeaten Blue Ridge took its show to yet another venue away from St. George, this time against Covenant, and the Barons took full advantage of their size and depth as they cruised to a 73-47 win over the Eagles on the heels of a big first half.
“(On the road) it’s really important to try keep the crowd out of the game early and try and keep the other team from feeling good about themselves,” said Blue Ridge coach Bill Ramsey. “I think coming up obviously (Covenant) could see how big we were, and we’re probably more athletic, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t get off to a good start. If we get off to a good start it puts some doubt in their minds.”
After Covenant’s Issaac Stewart-Silver gave his team its only lead of the game on a 3-pointer in the first minute, Malick Kone, Isaiah Battle and Cameron Anderson were all over the glass for Blue Ridge, and as a result, piled up the points in the paint whether on dunks or easy lay-ups.
The Barons roled up to a 14-3 start to get a double-digit lead in the first quarter. Through the second they continued to pound inside and impose their will, and put together another sizable run, this time a stretch where they outscored the Eagles 15-3 to go up by 23 points a little more than midway through the frame.
“Once we start clicking and get up big, everyone gets going,” Anderson said. “So far we have kind of been a first half team, so that’s something we’re trying to fix. Tonight we got a little sloppy in the second, we need to keep working on.”
Blue Ridge led by as many as 29 points the start of the third quarter, but Covenant finally found a spark outside of Stewart-Silver in Landon Brown and Maleek Frazier. The Eagles fought to get within 18 points, but the size of the hole was simply too deep for Covenant coach Ben D’Alessandro’s team.
“You dig yourself a 30-some point hole early and it’s too much, especially against those guys,” D’Alessandro said. “You’ve got to have an ‘A’ effort — you need to have your ‘A’ concentration and ‘A’ attitude for 32 minutes. We didn’t have that. We weren’t concentrated, didn’t have the effort and so (Blue Ridge) came out and was able to play volleyball against us and do whatever they wanted. That was disappointing. In the second half we got loose. We had nothing to lose so we were able to play our brand of basketball and go on a few runs.”
Kone, Anderson and Battle gave Blue Ridge three different players to finish with 14 points. Battle led the way in the rebounding department with eight boards to go along with his four blocks. Point guard Chad Holley was an effective passer, dishing out nine assists.
For Covenant, Stewart Silver scored nine of his team’s first 10 points and led all scorers, hitting five 3-pointers on his way to 17 points. Brown finished with nine points. Of Covenant’s 17 field goals, 12 were from beyond the arc.
The Eagles (7-6) battle Carlisle at home on Thursday at 6:30.
Blue Ridge (11-0) remains on the road as they head to Roanoke Christian on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
