NEW MARKET — The South Montgomery boys’ basketball team fell to Danville at home Friday night, 84-45
The loss moved the Mounties to 1-4 overall, and 1-1 in the Sagamore Conference.
Danville, who is now 5-0, and ranked No. 6 in Class 3A is led by senior Dillon Ware, who nearly doubled his season average with a 33 point night, including 16 in the third quarter.
When asked about the team’s mindset going into the game, head coach Jake Turner said, “Danville wins a lot of games before the tip even goes up, kind of just because they’re Danville, and we talked all week about how you can’t be scared. We talked about how we haven’t beaten them since 1996, in the last 26 meetings, so we have nothing to lose, and if we won, we’d be remembered forever.”
“We also talked about needing to do three things to win: rebound, take care of the ball and we need to keep them out of the paint. And, that includes in transition,” he added.
Though rebounding and turnovers proved to both be struggles for the Mounties, as they watched a 14-9 deficit after the first quarter turn into a 27-point hole and 41-14 halftime advantage for the Warriors.
Freshman Carson Chadd provided some early offensive help for the Mounties but picked up three quick fouls, forcing him to the bench for the remainder of the first half.
“He was playing pretty well and was able to get to the rim a couple times and score some early points,” said Turner.
“He’s the type of kid that wants the challenge of guarding the opposing team’s best player,” Turner added about Chadd. “We didn’t have him guard Cloverdale’s best player last weekend, because we wanted to keep him out of foul trouble, but we thought he was one of our best matchups for [Dillon] Ware. Unfortunately, when you put him on their best player, sometimes he gets in foul trouble, and he got a couple of those early.”
Chadd led the Mounties with 10 points, while Cale Hess added eight, and Austin Bowman and Avery Saunders each chipped in seven. Sam Comer complemented Ware’s 33 with 15, while Kobe Ward reached double-figures with 10 for the Warriors.
The Mounties look to get back on track on the road tonight at Greencastle, where they take on the Tiger Cubs at 7:30 p.m.
Danville 84, Southmont 45
DV 14 27 24 24 — 84
SM 9 5 13 18 — 45
DV (5-0, 1-0 SAC): Peyton Roof 3 1-1 7, Tyler Dostin 1 1-2 3, Dillon Ware 13 7-10 33, Dominick Wynn 1 0-0 2, Brayton McMahon 1 0-0 3, Braxton Fulwider 1 0-1 2, Garrett Fulwider 3 2-2 8, Kobe Ward 4 1-4 10, Isaiah Hayse 0 1-2 1, Sam Comer 6 1-2 15; Totals 33-58 15-24 84.
SM (1-4, 1-1 SAC): Drew Glancy 1 0-0 2, Reese Long 2 0-0 4, Carson Chadd 4 2-2 10, Cale Hess 2 3-4 8, Austin Bowman 3 1-2 7, Logan Oppy 1 1-2 4, Aidan Portwood 1 0-0 3, Avery Saunders 2 2-3 7; Totals 16-34 9-13 45
3-Point Shooting: DV 3-15 (Comer, McMahon, Ward), SM 4-11 (Hess, Oppy, Saunders, Portwood).
