PEDRO – The Rock Hill athletic department did play their electric bill. It got dark in the gym Friday because the Ashland Tomcats shot the lights

Ashland shot 36 of 60 from the field for a sizzling 60 percent en route to an 83-62 season-opening win over the Rock Hill Redmen.

“We played with them the first half and they had shot extremely well the first half,” said Adam Simpson after his debut as the Rock Hill coach.

“We go in at halftime and figure there’s no way they can continue to shoot that well and they shot it even better. I don’t think we played that badly, they just shot the ball well.”

Rock Hill was 26 of 6 from the floor for 43 percent. But Simpson said the Tomcats inside trio of Drew McDavis, Matt Thomas and Ryan Bonner proved to be too much.

“They just wore us down. They had McDavid and Thomas and Bonner inside and they’re big, strong kids. By the fourth quarter, we were worn out. But it was a good experience for us,” said Simpson.

Danny Coleman led Ashland with 18 points including a pair of 3-pointers. McDavid scored 16 points and Thomas 13.

Rock Hill had four players in double figures. Aaron Butler scored 14 points, Nathan Davenport 13, Matt Matney 12 and Adam Stumbo 11.

Coleman had 10 points in the first quarter as Ashland went up 22-17. Butler had 8 points and Davenport 5 to keep the Redmen close.

The Redmen got within 41-37 at the half as Stumbo, Davenport, Ison and DePriest combined for 18 of their 20 points.

But Ashland used 6 points each from McDavid and Thomas to pull away to a 64-50 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Davenport also had 10 rebonds and Stumbo 6. DePriest had 4 assists with Ison getting 3 steals and 3 assists.

Rock Hill plays at St. Joseph on Friday. Ashland travels to Ironton on Tuesday.

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ASHLAND (1-0):

Tyler Salyer 4 1 3-3 14, Shane Fairchild 0 1 0-0 3, Drew McDavid 8 0 0-0 16, Matt Thomas 5 1 0-1 13, Robby Wilcox 3 1 0-0 9, Ryan Bonner 3 0 0-0 6, Danny Coleman 5 2 2-2 18, Matt Rowe 2 0 0-0 4. Totals: 36-60

(6)

5-6

83. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: Thomas, Bonner.

ROCK HILL (0-1):

Nathan Davenport 3 1 4-4 13, Matt Matney 6 0 0-0 12, Mark DePriest 3 0 2-3 8, Andrew Stumbo 5 0 1-1 11, Mike Ison 2 0 0-0 4, Aaron Butler 6 0 2-2 14, Dustin Chandler 0 0 0-0 0, Eli Kitchen 0 0 0-0 0, Wes Pierson 0 0 0-0 0, Tyler Kirkpatrick 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-60

(1)

9-10

62. Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None. Rebounds: 27 (Davenport 10, Stumbo 6). Assists: 10 (DePriest 4, Ison 3). Steals: 6 (Ison 3). Turnovers: 11.