Rebels pick up road win at Charlestown

George Browning, Sports Writer, [email protected]

The South Central Rebels had a feel-good night Feb. 18 at Charlestown. Not only did senior Dylan Patterson score a career-high 36 points in the team’s 72-63 win over the Pirates, but coach Greg Robinson picked up his 170th win.

“It feels really good to have that kind of night,” Patterson said. “I felt like it was going to be a good night, but to score that many is kind of a shocker for me.”

Patterson said while watching film on Charlestown, the Rebels noticed some open gaps and they felt like there would be opportunities to take advantage of that.

“I just had to shoot those gaps, get to the rim and finish strong,” he said.

Robinson said he felt like the speed of Patterson and Wesley Wilson were going to create some opportunities for his team.

“I feel like in most games Wilson is faster than just about anybody we are going to play, and that led to some easy baskets,” he said, “and Dylan can get to the hole against anybody. I felt like if we attacked their pressure, good things would happen. Give credit to our kids, they took the challenge to heart and we played a really well-executed second half.”

Lucas Stewart missed the game due to soreness in his knee, and his absence left a void on the offensive end for South Central. Robinson said that’s why Patterson’s night was so important for his team.

“For a senior nearing the end of his career, this will be a great memory for Dylan,” Robinson said. “He will be able to look back and remember the 36-point road game that helped us win. It was cool to see. He knew what he needed to do, and he did it. Dylan always answers the bell for us. Tonight, we needed him to score a lot, and that’s a conversation he and I had before the game. I told him he was going to have to score, and that’s not something he does a lot, but he did it, and we got the win.”

South Central trailed by as many 10 points through the first quarter and a half, but, after a basket by Charlestown’s Kyle Craig gave them a 27-17 lead, the Rebels started the comeback.

Austin Tyree hit a basket, and Jordan Huda made one of two free throws that trimmed the advantage to seven, 27-20.

The Pirates got a free throw, but it did little to stop the momentum that was building for South Central.

Both Wilson and Patterson hit two free throws apiece, and Jack Schmelz scored two after grabbing a steal that pulled the Rebels to within two, 28-26, with 2:45 remaining in the first half.

Charlestown answered with five quick points, but the Rebels continued to get to the free-throw line. Patterson and Huda combined to go four of four down the stretch to end the first half, and South Central trailed by four, 34-30, at intermission.

The third quarter is when Patterson took over. He had just 10 points in the entire first half and added 10 more in the third quarter. Two of his points, combined with two more by Wilson, knotted the game at 34-all in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

Charlestown’s Ty Crace scored three of his team-high 24 points to keep the Pirates in front, at least for a moment.

The Rebels answered Crace’s basket with a 14-0 run, which featured eight points off four baskets by Patterson. Wilson added four points during the run, and Clay Thomas scored a basket in the paint.

Trailing 48-37, the Pirates ended the run when Caleb Brown converted an old-fashioned three-point play. Matthew Henning also hit a three for Charlestown, cutting the Rebels’ lead to five, 48-43, heading into the final period.

Charleston got another basket, this time by Craig, to continue the climb back, but, after the two teams traded baskets, Patterson went back to work. He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter alone, including hitting 8-of-9 free throws in the final minutes.

Robinson said he was happy to get the win but was even happier with his team’s composure when they got behind early in the game.

“Any time you win on the road it’s a good win,” Robinson said. “Charlestown’s record is deceiving. They have some good athletes, and they shot the ball really well tonight, which is really out of their character. We had to overcome a few things we weren’t expecting. The kids kept their composure when they got down and kept grinding away.”

The reason for the early deficit was Charlestown’s hot hand behind the three-point arc. The Pirates hit six threes in the first quarter, and then South Central did a much better job defensively the rest of the way.

“We got on the kids a little and told them they needed to have two hands up on every close out,” Robinson said. “I felt like we did a better job of that after the first quarter. We also did a better job of pressuring the ball, which led to some sloppy passes by them. Then the other factor was, we just wore them down. Our press wore them down, and tired legs tend to lead to poor shooting.”

The Charlestown game was the start of a busy week for the Rebels. They followed the win over the Pirates with a tough one-point, 52-51, loss at New Washington on Friday and a 58-31 loss at Springs Valley on Saturday.

South Central closed the season with a showdown against Corydon Central last night (Tuesday).

Despite the two losses, Patterson thinks the Rebels will be ready come sectional time next week.

“I think things are coming together for us,” Patterson said. “We are playing more like a team, taking better shots and playing solid defense.”

South Central             15   15   18   24 – 72

Charlestown               22   12     9   20 – 63

South Central (8-12) – Dylan Patterson 36, Wesley Wilson 16, Bryce Dixon 7, Clay Thomas 6, Austin Tyree 4, Jordan Huda 3.

Charlestown (3-16) – Ty Crace 24, Kyle Craig 14, Caleb Brown 8, Matthew Henning 5, Devron West 4, Ashton Davis 3, Brody Wagers 3, Elyjah Joseph 2.

3-point goals – South Central 1 (Dixon 1); Charlestown 11 (Crace 5, Craig 3, Brown 1, Davis 1, Henning 1).