Risco's Batman now has an extremely talented Robin by his side

Risco High School junior forward Owen Fortner puts up a shot against Bloomfield in the recent Bloomfield Christmas Tournament at Bloomfield High School.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

When his South Pemiscot varsity boy’s basketball team ventures to Risco High School on Tuesday to play the Class 1 No. 3-ranked Tigers, certainly Bulldog coach Jordan McGowan will be concerned with how to contain the offensive ability of the Tigers’ star scorer.

Oh, and McGowan will also have to ponder how to keep Risco senior Sammy Smith from scoring, as well.

“We just want guys to make the right play,” veteran Tiger coach Brandon Blankenship explained of his team’s offensive philosophy recently.

Risco (10-2) recently made a strong showing in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament by finishing in fifth place in the 16-team event. The Tigers got past Bloomfield, Van Buren, and Richland (Essex) while falling to tournament runner-up Dexter 69-67 in the quarterfinal round.

“The opportunity to play in this tournament is big for us,” Blankenship told Semoball.com following the tournament. “It’s big for our school and our community so we obviously wanted to make a strong showing and to cap it off like this feels great.”

Of course, a key reason for the Tigers’ success was the steady play of Smith, who has been a fixture for the Risco program for four seasons. However, Smith now has an incredibly talented sidekick in junior forward Owen Fortner, who is seemingly improving every time he puts on his sneakers.

“Owen has really come on this year as a scorer,” Blankenship said during the tournament.

That may be the understatement of the season.

After Fortner scored a solid 11 points in a rout of the host Wildcats, the 6-foot-4 athlete exploded on every other opponent.

Fortner dropped 34 points on the Bearcats and followed that performance up by scoring 28 points in wins over Van Buren and Richland (Essex).

“Owen has been playing varsity since his freshman year,” Blankenship said. “He’s got a lot of varsity games under his belt. He has always had the ability to score, but he is consistently doing it now, and he’s (playing well) on both ends of the floor.”

South Pemiscot is ranked eighth in the latest Class 2 poll and will be a challenge for Risco at both ends of the court, which is what Blankenship likes for his team to experience.

“During the regular season, we want to play in tough games,” Blankenship said. “That’s what prepares you for the postseason.”