Charleston – Ravenswood overcame a sluggish first quarter to defeat South Harrison, 49-46 Tuesday in their Class AA quarterfinal clash.
“That is a tough team. They are 23-1 for a reason,” Ravenswood head coach Mick Price said. “They work hard and they have brought a lot of spirit to that community. My hat goes off to South Harrison, we were lucky to get by them today.”
After scoring just four points in the first quarter, the Red Devils trailed by only three at the break.
“Man, did we stink in the first quarter. We put ourselves in a bad position by missing so many shots at the rim. You look up and they are knocking shots down,” Price said. “We were down three at the half and we were lucky. It should have been 23.”
In the third period, South Harrison could manage just six points and trailed by three with eight minutes to play.
Ravenswood built the lead to five with 6:27 to play before Corey Boulden rallied the Hawks to within one. Although South Harrison had a couple of chances to even the game, the Hawks came up empty each time.
“The guys persevered and we made some adjustments at the half. I thought they did a really nice job and we were more settled in in the second half,” Price said. “Boulden is a great player. He is a tough guard, but we were able to keep some of their other guys at bay.”
Matthew Carte led the Red Devils with 15 and Drew Hunt scored 14. Boulden scored 24 for the Hawks, while Noah Burnside scored nine and had 13 rebounds.
“Obviously we are disappointed with the result,” South Harrison head coach Tom Sears said. “We just made some mistakes down the stretch that cost us, but I am still proud of my kids. It was a great season.”
Ravenswood advances to the semifinal round Friday where it will face the winner of top-seed Poca and Magnolia at 1 p.m.
