Second-half onslaught carries Keenan boys past Ridgeland-Hardeeville for Class 3A crown
For the second straight game, the Keenan boys’ basketball team had a sluggish first half in a playoff game.
And for the second straight time, the Raiders responded with a dominating second half. Keenan outscored Ridgeland-Hardeeville 51-20 in the second half to defeat the Jaguars, 70-40 and win the Class 3A championship Saturday at Colonial Life Arena.
It’s Keenan’s eighth state title and first since 2015 The Raiders’ eight state titles are tied for third most with Calhoun County.
Keenan coach Zach Norris thought his team played good defense in the first half but played scared on offense, scoring just 19 points and trailing by one. Leading scorer Asanti Price was scoreless in the first half on one shot attempt.
The second half was a different story. The Raiders were aggressive in all phases, getting on the floor for every loose ball and getting their fastbreak going with several slam dunks to get the Keenan faithful on their feet.
“I told them all these offensive weapons and only 19 points in the first half, really?” Norris said. “I told ’em y’all too tight, loosen up and let’s go to work. I told them keep playing defense because they couldn’t score either.”
Price also got going and finished with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting in the second half. As a team, the Raiders shot 67 percent. The title capped a whirlwind few months for Price, who transferred from Eau Claire with a stop in between at Combine Academy in Charlotte, N.C before arriving back at Keenan in November.
“I learned a lot about myself being in North Carolina,” Price said. “But I kept working hard and it was a great experience here with my teammates.”
Keenan held the Jags’ to just 24 percent from the field in the second half and forced 25 turnovers in the game.
Latrell Taylor and Dillon Jones each had 15 for the Raiders and Raekwon Horton had 10. Both were freshmen on the team that lost to Burke in the title game two years ago.
“We knew we had to put it in our defense and our defense took over for us,” Jones said. “We put in a lot of hard work into this and we aren’t surprised by the results.
“Freshman year, we might have took things for granted. But even when we lose, we always learn and we learned from that two years ago.”
RH: Hamilton 6, Baker 2, Ny’Gel Boozer 18, D. Butler 5, R. Butler 5, Orr 4. K: Dillon Jones 15, Raekwon Horton 10, Asanti Price 22, Sanders 2, Latrell Taylor 15, Garrett 2, Morris 4.
This story was originally published March 2, 2019 at 6:26 PM.
