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Sammy Smith's 30-point performance leads Risco to conference win over Delta C-7
DEERING, Mo. - Risco traveled to the stumping grounds of the Delta C-7 Chargers for an in-conference competition on Thursday night.
What began as a close matchup turned into a 32-point win for the Tigers as they went on to beat Delta C-7 83-51.
This victory came behind the works of senior Sammy Smith who led his Risco team by dropping 30 points on the night.
According to Smith, he was pleased they were able to get the win. However, he doesn’t believe this was the best showing for a team he believes should win the State Championship.
“As a team, in the first half, we weren’t as dominant as we needed to be,” Smith said. “The second half we came out and dominated like we ought to. We started to look like a State Championship team.”
The first half, although slow in Smith's opinion, saw the Tigers outscore Delta C-7 44-30.
The Chargers were able to stay within striking distance by outshooting Risco from beyond the arc. Delta C-7 knocked down six three-pointers in the first half compared to Risco who only made two.
Seniors Davon Stewart and Anthony (Zander) Johnson led the hot streak, keeping the Chargers in the game during the first quarter.
Stewart knocked down a contested three from the wing, followed by a corner-three from Johnson. On the next possession, Johnson drove in for a tear-drop floater which was followed by an isolated step-back deep three-pointer to complete an 11-point run.
Stewart finished the first half with nine points while Johnson was right behind with eight.
According to Risco’s head coach Brandon Blankenship, they knew they would have to step up defensively and shut those two down in the second half.
“Those guys shot well from the three-point line tonight,” Blankenship said. “We wanted to make sure we were getting out and contesting shots in the second half. I told them in the locker room we just have to commit more on defense.”
Coming out of the half-time break, Risco held the Charges to only eight points in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Tiger began to pull away, scoring 23 points in the third quarter.
“I was really happy to see that,” Blankenship said. “We know we can score and we know we have guys who can put the ball in the hole, but for us, it’s about locking in on defense and I was happy to see that.”
While defense became key in the second half, Smith began to excel offensively with 15 points in the third quarter alone. This was his highest-scoring quarter, exceeding his first-half performance of 13 points.
“He can score,” Blankenship said. “He can take it to the hole, shoot the mid-range and shoot the three. He can score on all three levels there. If he gets in rhythm, it’s tough for the other team. When he’s playing like that, it’s good for us.”
Out of his 30 points, nine of those points were scored from three-point range and one basketball was off a breakaway dunk.
Along with Smith, junior Owen Fortner finished with 19 points. He had 11 in the first half and eight in the second half.
Senior Kadin Carlisle also helped push the Tigers to victory, putting up 10 points from off the bench.
For the Chargers, Stewart was the top scorer with 21 points. He scored two three-pointers and was 1-1 from the free-throw line.
With this loss, snapping their win streak, Delta C-7 falls to 2-4 on the season. Their next competition will be at the Senath Christmas Tournament. As the number three seed, the Chargers will face Armorel in the first round on Monday, Dec. 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Risco’s next competition will be in the Clarkton Holiday Tournament. As the number one seed, the Tiger will get a “bye” in the first round. This gives them a week off of games before they play in the semi-finals against the winner of Greenville and Portageville on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 6:30.
“We’re going to have a great week of practice so we can come in and hopefully win us a tournament,” Smith said. “Actually, not hopefully. We are going to win us a tournament.”