Owens posts 45 combined points in two district home games this week
By Randy Arrington
LURAY, Jan. 28-29 — Since suffering their only district loss on Jan. 22 at Page County, Luray’s boys basketball team has bounced back and captured back-to-back Bull Run wins this week. On Tuesday, the Bulldogs beat Madison, 61-48, and then held off Strasburg, 61-56, on Wednesday. Junior Matthew Owens lead the way with 45 combined points in two days, as the Bulldogs sit in second place and face No. 1 Central twice during their remaining six games.
“I think we’re trending back in the right direction, where we were before all the snow…at that time I thought we were really, really good, and then the nine days off with the snow kinda took a toll on us,” LHS head coach Matt Huff said after Wednesday night’s win. “But I think we’re getting back to where we were, so that’s where we want to be…we want to be playing our best basketball coming down the stretch here.”
Luray jumped out to a 20-10 lead over Strasburg in the first quarter behind six three-pointers, including two from Owens. That gap made the difference in the game, as the Rams played the home team fairly even over the second and third quarters, and then posted a 25-19 advantage in the final frame. In fact, despite only 33 percent shooting from the field in the second quarter and 40 percent in the second half, the Rams went on late runs at the end of both halves.
Owens hit a field goal that brought the score to 31-14 in favor of Luray with 1:55 left in the first half, when Strasburg went on a 7-0 run to close the score to 31-21 at the half. Owens hit his third triple with 4:52 left in the game when the Rams went on a 16-10 run to close the game.
“The last couple of games now…late in the game we get on this stretch where it’s like, we have the lead and we just, defensively, we stop rotating, we stop moving, we stop closing out, we stop doing all of the things we talk about. We kinda get a little lazy, a little lackadaisical and that’s kind of affected us a little,” Coach Huff said. “But [Strasburg] also hit some big shots, so that played a part of it too. They are a really good team, and they are really well coached. I just think some of it may be mentally our guys kinda think they can coast, and we’ve got to get out of that mindset and continue to play through it.”
The Bulldogs made five of their six trips to the foul line in the fourth quarter, and four of those were in the final 49 seconds. Luray went 10-for-12 at the line for the night (83 percent). They shot 47 percent from the floor in the second half and only committed five turnovers during the game.
Behind Owens’ game-high 16 points, junior Connor Hilliard had 11 and senior Blake Jenkins added eight. Sophomore Ayden Haddock had a solid outing with nine points, including two three-pointers. Sophomore Aiden Cook came off the bench to hit back-to-back three-pointers in the second quarter for six points on the night. Senior Jae Frye had a solid night in the paint with six points as well. As a team, Luray hit 11 shots from beyond the arc, and eight different Bulldogs scored points.
Strasburg was lead by junior Cayman DiMarco with 14 points, while sophomore Gavin Dellinger had 13 and senior Takhi Coates added 11. The Rams only committed three turnovers and went 6-for-10 at the line. Despite losing to Luray, 66-59, during their first meeting on Jan. 18, Strasburg was coming off a 43-34 win at Clarke on Tuesday. Coach Larry Fox and the Rams (7-7, 4-4) next face back-to-back games with the Mountaineers, as they host Madison (4-13, 3-5) on Friday, Jan. 31 and then travel to their court on Monday, Feb. 3.
On Tuesday night, Luray defeated Madison, 61-48, behind a game-high 29 points from Owens. Both Jenkins and Hilliard added 11. The Bulldogs hit six three-pointers as a team, including four from Owens. Luray jumped out to a 17-9 lead in the first quarter and carried a 30-16 advantage into the half. Madison was lead by senior Lahman Carpenter and freshman Isaiah Jones, who both recorded 16 points.
Luray has six games remaining in the regular season and two of those matchups are against the district-leading Falcons of Central.
“That’s circled….all year everybody said that they were the team to beat, and even though we won the region last year we were not the team to beat and that they were, so we kinda had that game circled,” Coach Huff said on Wednesday night. “We’re looking forward to it and hopefully we can get two big wins against them. They are really good.”
Up next, Luray (12-4, 7-1) has three road games before ending with three at home. The Bulldogs travel to Stonewall Jackson (1-15, 0-8) on Friday, Jan. 31, prior to their first matchup with the Falcons at Central (15-2, 8-0) on Tuesday, Feb. 4.
For schedules, rosters and results, check the Bull Run District website.
•••
RELATED ARTICLES
Panthers post season-high 73 points in district win over rival Bulldogs
Be the first to comment