In what is becoming expected, the Rock Hill Redmen used a strong defensive effort the second half to rally past the River Valley Raiders 51-48 Thursday night.

Friday, December 31, 1999

In what is becoming expected, the Rock Hill Redmen used a strong defensive effort the second half to rally past the River Valley Raiders 51-48 Thursday night.

After trailing 32-26 at the break, Rock Hill limited River Valley to only 16 points the second half en route to its fourth win in seven decisions.

"It’s been this way about every game," Redmen coach Rick Scarberry said. "I thought the first half our intensity level was way down, but the second half we picked it up. We rested some kids and David Large, Brent Clagg, and Billy Mullins came in and they picked it up."

Mullins also picked things up on the offensive end as he scored 9 of his 12 points the second half. Brent McCoy came through with a clutch shooting performance as he led the Redmen with 15 points. Brian Tennant had 10 rebounds, two blocked shots, and two assists.

Rock Hill (4-3) didn’t shoot as well from the field, hitting 20-of-45 from the floor for 44.4 percent and just 2-of-12 from behind the arc for 16.7 percent.

"We didn’t shoot the ball well, especially the first half. We started shooting a little better the second half, but our defense helped that," said Scarberry.

The Redmen had built their biggest lead of the game at 17-9 with 1:04 left in the first quarter on a 3-pointer by Tennant. But a 13-pointer by Steve Conley and Aaron Sullivan’s layup with 15 seconds left closed the gap to 17-14.

River Valley (0-5) didn’t stop there. The Raiders cam e back to take the lead on back-to-back baskets by Jeremy Peck and Eric Nolan to begin the second quarter. Nolan followed up a missed shot at the 3:05 mark that gave the Raiders their biggest lead at 28-20.

McCoy got the Redmen back in the game with 6 points over the final 1:52 of the half including a 13-footer with one second left that made it 32-26.

Tanner Heaberlin scored Rock Hill’s first 6 points of the third quarter to cut the deficit to 34-32. A 3-pointer by Kyle Deel put the Raiders lead at 43-36, but McCoy hit another clutch shot as he drained a 3-pointer as time expired and it was 43-39.

Rock Hill’s defense took over the fourth quarter. The Redmen forced six turnovers and held the Raiders to 5 points on a 2-for-12 shooting performance.

Mullins scored the first 5 points aof the quarter as Rock Hill regained the lead at 44-43. Nolan’s basket put the Raiders on top for the last time with 4:21 to play.

Clagg’s 18-footer gave Rock Hill the lead for good at 45-44 with 3:55 left and Mullins followed with a layup. Justin Holcomb sank two foul shots and it was a one-point game, but McCoy converted both ends of a one-and-one for a 50-47 lead.

Deel made the front end of a one-and-one, but Tennant’s foul shot with 21 seconds left pushed the lead to 51-48. Sullivan’s desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer was off left.

Holcomb had 11 points and seven rebounds to lead the Raiders. Peck had 9 points and 11 rebounds.