Offense Explodes in Route of Raleigh's Finest
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Raleigh's Finest (1-4,) | 33 | 36 | 69 |
|
Seward County Community College (4-4,) | 48 | 56 | 104 |
Coming off of a heartbreaking double overtime loss Friday against Butler, the Seward County Saints looked like they had somewhat of a hangover effect going early on against Raleigh's Finest Prep School Saturday in Dodge City as they wrapped up play in the Pizza Hut Classic at United Wireless Arena. But, after a slow start, the Saints got things rolling and took a 15 point lead to the break and extended upon that in the second half, blowing out the Prepsters 104-69 while shooting a season best 50% from the field.
Against a Raleigh's Finest squad who put up 92 points on Dodge City the night before, the Saints found themselves in an early hole, down 11-3 before getting their first field goal of the game at the 14:30 mark by the unlikeliest of people in Frank Johnston who hadn't even seen the court in Seward's first seven games of the year. Seward began to push the tempo, forcing a number of Raleigh's Finest turnovers and they took the lead midway through the first half at 18-15. The Saints continued to lead, but the Prepsters continued to hang in there with the defending Jayhawk West Champs as the clock ticked under 7:00 to go in the half. Seward closed the half on a tear though and went into the break holding a sizeable 48-33 advantage. Raleigh's Finest actually outshot the Saints in the first half, shooting 46% to the Saints 43%, but Seward forced 16 Raleigh's Finest turnovers and scored 22 points off of those turnovers to take the 15 point lead into the half. Secean Johnson led Seward with 16 first half points while Niem Stevenson contributed 10.
The game was never in doubt in the second half as Raleigh's Finest could find no answer to the Saints offensive attack. Seward opened up their lead to 77-49 midway through the half and continued to pile it on in the final 10:00 of the game, coming away with a 104-60 win over the Prepsters. The Saints torched the nets for 56% shooting in the second half while holding Raleigh's Finest to just 36% from the field and without a three point basket in the period.
It was a stat padding day for a number of Saints as Johnson and Stevenson combined for 45 points for Seward while Evan Allen scored a season high 13, Tyreke Sharp had his best outing of the season with 12 points, and Brian Bridgeforth notched his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Seward shot a season high 50% from the floor in the game while holding Raleigh's Finest to 40% from the floor and just 1 of 15 from three point land.
Seward gets back to .500 with the win, moving to 4-4 on the year. The Saints will have to curb their Thanksgiving Day cravings Thursday as they will be back in action on Friday and Saturday in Scottsbluff, Nebraska where they will take on Region IX heavyweights Northeastern and Western Nebraska before returning home for the Pizza Hut Classic December 6-7.