Neville Bench Duo, Lead Tigers Past Chiefs... Monroe, LA (Tigers Den) A 68-50 win over District 2-4A rival West Ouachita may seem like a comfortable margin of victory, but ask Neville head coach Phillip Craig about it and you’ll get a different story. The Chiefs (11-14) went toe-to-toe with the Tigers (12-6) for the better part of two quarters, leading 14-13 at the end of the first and trailing just 32-28 at halftime. “Really, it was closer than we wanted it to be. At half, we were only up four points, and it stayed close through the third,” Craig said. “I knew they weren’t very deep, so we were able to wear them down with the press in the second half and we made shots. You have to give it to West Ouachita for staying in it.” Pushing the tempo in its favor, Neville outscored West Ouachita 20-11 in the third quarter and never looked back. The points, however, came from an unlikely source. Reserves Chris Jones and Bobby Newton usually find themselves at the end of the bench, but not pleased with his starters, Craig inserted them into the game and they delivered. Jones knocked down four of six 3-pointers for 12 points, and Newton recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. “It’s so important to develop the bench. I didn’t think our starters played very well and those guys came in and gave us a lift when we needed it,” Craig said. Saxton Becker was West Ouachita’s leading scorer with 17 points. Neville steps out of 2-4A on Friday and travels to Union Parish. West Ouachita returns to its home floor and hosts Bastrop.
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 02:13:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015