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Ballard head basketball coach Chris C. Renner talks to his players during a time-out. 18 December 2016
There was no Vonnie Patterson and no Jamil Wilson, but that was no problem for the Ballard boys’ basketball team Tuesday night.
Despite playing without their top two scorers, the host Bruins didn’t miss a beat, beating Doss 72-60 in a cross-region battle.
“We had to all step up,” said Ballard junior guard Tyron Duncan, who scored a team-high 16 points.
Junior forward Delonta Wimberly added 12 points, while previously little-used sophomore forward Jaylen Price chipped in with 10 for the Bruins.
Ballard coach Chris Renner knew he would be without Patterson (18.2 points, 10.2 rebounds per game), who injured his ankle in last week’s Republic Bank Louisville Invitational Tournament. However Wilson (15.8 ppg), the Bruins’ senior point guard, was a late scratch due to the flu. Patterson and Wilson average a combined 34 points per game.
“With no time to prepare, I didn’t know how our guys would respond, so we just tried to do what we do best and that’s play defense and try and play fast,” Renner said. “I think that gave them some problems.”
The teams went back-and-forth for much of the first quarter before Ballard, No. 4 in The Courier-Journal’s Litkenhous Ratings, pulled ahead late in the period.
The Bruins led 18-14 at the conclusion of the first quarter, then started the second with a 9-2 run to extend their advantage to 11.
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Ballard shot 46.4 percent (13 for 28) in the first half, but also had some big plays on defense. The Bruins took at least five charges in the opening 16 minutes.
“We knew we had to do that because we were trying to run their shooters off the (3-point) line a little bit,” Renner said. “ (Jaylon) Hall, (Stephon) Franklin and (Cam) Maddox, they shoot the three so well we couldn’t just let them sit out there and have shooting practice. We wanted to get them playing a little faster.”
Hall, the Dragons’ leading scorer, was saddled with foul trouble in the first half.
The Bruins stretched their lead to 15 (46-31) on Duncan’s twisting layup, after which he gave a little muscle flex, midway through the third quarter.
Doss got as close as eight (the last time at 66-58) in the fourth quarter, but each time Ballard responded.
“Guys stepped up tonight, an example of that is Jaylen Price,” said Renner of the sophomore who had scored a total of four points in seven games before Tuesday. “(He) probably isn’t playing two minutes a game, if that. He’s probably played in five varsity games, but we got in a little foul trouble tonight and had to put him in and he ends up getting 10 points.
“We just had a lot of guys with not as much experience step up tonight and make plays. We talk about ‘Next man up’ and everybody being prepared, and the guys did a good job of that tonight.”
Hall, who recently announced his commitment to Wright State, scored 16 points (two below his average) to pace the Dragons (12-7) while Franklin tallied 12.
Doss, however, didn’t help itself at the free throw line. The Dragons, who came in ranked 18th in the state in free throw percentage (73.6), finished 14 for 27 (51.9 percent) from the charity stripe.
After the game, Doss coach Tony Williams appeared dejected, walking off the court with his head down.
“I don’t have anything,” he said later when asked for comment.
BALLARD 72, DOSS 60
DOSS (12-7) – Cam Maddox 7p; Stephon Franklin 12p; Shawn’Kel Knight-Goff 9p; Jaylon Hall 16p; Terez Traynor 10p; Jeremiah Boyd 2p; Joseph Roberson 4p.
BALLARD (13-4) – Marshon Ford 9p, 5r; Tyron Duncan 16p, 4r; Dorian Tisby 8p, 3stl; Antoine Darby 5p; Delonta Wimberly 12p, 6r; Tyrese Duncan 3p, 3a; Kereion Douglas 4p, 4r; Jaylen Price 10; Alex Holley 2p; Orlando Higginbottom 3p.