It’s very clear what Blue Ridge’s boys basketball team is hanging its hat on this year.
“That’s our identity, is pressuring the ball,” said Blue Ridge coach Cade Lemcke.
That ball pressure ignited the Barons against Miller Tuesday night as Blue Ridge rolled to a 65-47 victory over the Mavericks. The Barons sped up Miller and created a string of turnovers and early shots while building a 25-12 lead early in the game.
After that, the Barons’ depth took over. Miller is re-tooling after Dajour Dickens, who was part of the Mavericks’ rotation, transferred back to Bethel High during winter break.
“We can sub guys in and we’re still fresh and I know Miller is adjusting to a different roster,” Lemcke said. “But they’ll get there, Danny (Manuel) is a good coach, he works hard but you could tell they’re still searching.”
Scott Spencer made those forced turnovers count early on, burying three 3-pointers before the break. The Clemson signee hit four for the game and led Blue Ridge with 14 points on the night.
By late in the second quarter, Blue Ridge was up 33-14 and cruising, and Miller couldn’t climb back out of the hole.
“We just came out timid tonight and it just burns me up,” said Miller coach Danny Manuel. “Now they’re a good team, they won a state championship last year … they’ve been together. When we play a team that is that talented and has that success in their past we can’t come out timid.”
In the second half, Miller did a better job containing Spencer, but focusing on the perimeter helped open things up for big man Aamir Simms, who scored eight of his 12 points in the second half.
“We like to go inside-out because we haven’t played somebody all year that can stop Aamir inside,” Lemcke said. “Not only Scott, but Afanna, Josh, Malik and Jemeil comes off the bench, we’ve got shooters and guys who are willing to make the extra pass when someone has a better shot than they do. When that starts happening, it’s really hard to guard that.”
The Barons also put together a strong sequence to finish the third quarter and snuff out any hope of a Miller rally when Simms rejected a shot and a couple of seconds later, Malik Johnson buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put Blue Ridge up 56-30.
Blue Ridge has been on the road much of the year, playing 11 of their 14 games outside the confines of St. George. The Miller win served as a big bounce back from a loss in a thriller to John Marshall over the weekend. They’ll travel to Bishop Sullivan Saturday for another long road trip and won’t play another home game until February 6.
Miller’s backcourt of Chance Sheffey and Ron Alston finished with 16 and 15 points respectively. The Mavericks won a pair of games since Dickens’ departure before running into the Barons and will look to bounce back when they travel Thursday to take on Middleburg.
“Now all the guys are ready to play hard,” Manuel said.
