Raiders win fourth straight

By: Greg Bird

The Raiders earned their first home win of the season and capped off a four-game winning streak with a 90-70 victory over Cumberland County Friday night.

Led by Kyle Tucker and Hunter Jones’ 20 points each, the Raiders maintained the momentum they had built up after Christmas and improved their record to 9-8 on the season.

The Raiders have three players averaging over 12 points per game so far this season, and several more have contributed with individual big games along the way; a trend Coach Robert Jones finds encouraging.

“We are having a different player step up and lead us in scoring nearly every night,” Jones said. “It really speaks to the nature of this team that we are not relying on one or two players to get our points. We have several guys who can step up and are capable of getting double digits in any game and that is a big plus.”

Against Cumberland County Friday the Raiders took a 20-14 lead at the end of the first quarter on the strength of a trey from Hunter Jones just before the buzzer, and never looked back.

McCreary outperformed the Panthers in every aspect of the game, holding the edge on rebounds 28-22 and committing only 13 turnovers to Cumberland’s 20. McCreary used the turnovers to good advantage, scoring 17 points off the Panthers’ miscues.

Credit goes to the Raiders’ defense for creating pressure on the Panthers’ offense and forcing several turnovers off the press.

In addition to Tucker and Hunter Jones scoring  20, Ryan Jones finished with 17, Tyler Longmire with 8, Cole Kidd with 8, Brandon Troxell with 5, Caleb Dixon with 4, Hunter Bryant with 4, Gavin Smith with 2, and Devin Strunk with 2.

The Raiders play their first District game of the season this Thursday when they travel to Southwestern. Next Monday McCreary returns home when they host Wayne County.