Raiders drop pair of District games

The Raiders suffered back-to-back District losses this week as both the Southwestern Warriors and Wayne County Cardinals knocked off McCreary on their home court.

Against the Warriors Thursday night, the Raiders couldn’t keep up with the quick pace set by Southwestern, falling to a 20-9 deficit at the end of the first quarter.

McCreary started to warm up in the second, hitting five 3-point shots (including a half-court buzzer-beater from John Cash), but still couldn’t match the Warriors’ output.

Southwestern forced 20 McCreary Turnovers, their most in a game so far this season, and converted them for 23 points.

With the game well in hand Southwestern pulled back in the second half, allowing the Raiders to keep the score respectable, but not close the distance.

When the final buzzer sounded Southwestern won, 75-54.

On Tuesday night the Raiders hosted Wayne County, and for about 11 minutes they were able to hang in with the Cardinals.

McCreary and Wayne both struggled to score in the first quarter, with the Cardinals holding a slim, 3-point lead at the end of the period – 15-12.

The Raiders continued to stay close as the second quarter started, and just trailed by 6 with about five minutes left in the half.

But the Raiders started to get impatient – rushing shots and making bad passes, which allowed the Cardinals to take control of the game. Over the next four and a half minutes Wayne County went on a 13-0 run as they capitalized on several McCreary turnovers.

The held a 36-17 lead at the half, and would go on to a 82-46 victory.

The losses dropped the Raiders’ record to 0-2 in District play, and 4-10 overall.

Thursday night the Raiders travel to Middlesboro then return home for a game against Lynn Camp.

McCreary will face Southwestern for the second time on January 21, and Wayne County on February 5. The Warriors currently are on top of the District standings with a 2-0 record.

Scoring

Vs. Southwestern

Hunter Jones -14, Codey Phillips -13, Devin Strunk -7, John Cash -6, Devon Hamilton -5, Brandon Troxell -4,

Tristian Adkins -3, Deroy Conaster -2.

Vs. Wayne.

D. Hamilton -19, Nick Longmire -6, H. Jones -5, B. Troxell -5,

C. Phillips -3, J. Cash -3,

T. Adkins -3, Hunter Bryant -2.