With Madison County’s supporting cast still developing, if you can clamp down on Bobby Ford and contain Matt Temple, life can get tough for the Mountaineers.
Enter Gary Morris.
The William Monroe senior scored 12 points but his largest contribution was his relentless focus on keeping Ford from getting into a groove, or, frankly, getting the ball as the Dragons rolled to a 62-35 victory.
“We’re kind of limited with our options right now and they did a great job taking Ford out of the game in the second half and actually did a great job on him all game,” said Madison coach Ben Breeden. “He had to work just to get the ball.”
Morris’ efforts held Ford, an efficient scorer who’s averaging more than 15 points per game, to just two points on a pair of fourth quarter free throws. While Temple got going early, holding Ford in check was enough to allow the Dragons to build a 10-point halftime lead and continue extending it in the second half.
“We came out a little anxious in the first half, I think we were nervous,” said Monroe coach Mike Maynard. “I think our defensive effort was pretty good the whole night but it was particularly good in the third quarter and allowed us to pull away..”
A balanced scoring effort from Morris, Austin Batten and Markel Williams got the job done on the offensive end for William Monroe. Batten finished with 13 and Williams led the way with 16.
Williams scored his 16 while going toe-to-toe with Temple as the two standouts engaged in an epic battle despite the eventually lopsided score.
“It’s definitely a challenge and he had a great a game and it was a great battle,” Williams said. “If you’re a great player you love the competition and I love it.”
The Dragons (6-1, 3-0) put together a monster run to open the second quarter that included an emphatic slam from Williams. But Monroe was far from satisfied, frustrated with an inability to get the ball into the paint and pound a way at the Mountaineers.
“We want to work inside first,” Maynard said. “We’ve got two good shooters in Gary Morris and Austin Battenbut we took too many threes in the first half and we really wanted to pound it in during the second half and see what happened.”
Thursday the Dragons hit the road to take on Clarke County at 7:45 p.m. while Madison (2-6) hosts Rappahannock the same night at 7:45 p.m.
