Rebels riddle Raiders, 43-20

A game plan of deliberate slowed-down offense was well executed in the early stages of Trimble County’s outing with regional power Owen County on Dec. 6, but Trimble’s inability to generate points on the scoreboard proved to be the Raiders’ downfall. Owen eventually pulled away in the second half to score a 43-20 win.

Dave Taylor

Trimble senior Craig Ward drives around an Owen County defender in front of the Raider bench during last Tuesday's matchup in Bedford. The Rebels overcame a deliberate Trimble game plan to take a 43-20 win.

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“Our goal was to run a minute and a half or two minutes off the clock on each possession and either take a wide open layup or a wide open three at the end of it,” Trimble Head Coach John Leep III said. “We put pressure on them on their offensive end and made their possessions at a premium and they didn’t execute and it stayed close.”

Owen held a 10-5 lead after a quarter of play and doubled that margin by halftime, fronting 17-7. The Rebels outscored Trimble 13-7 in the third quarter and 13-6 in the last period for the 23-point final margin.

“In the second half we had some great looks for the guys that we wanted taking the shots,” Leep said. “It just wasn’t our night. They just didn’t fall. Eventually the game got away from us when we weren’t scoring. That’s why they’re the number three team in the region because they can beat you so many ways. We tried to take away their pressure and their running ability and limit their possessions and they were still able to overcome it.”

Leep went with a lineup heavy with ball handlers in an attempt to limit Owen’s possessions and have better ball control.

“They just overcame us with depth and size and wore us down,” Leep said. “Everything went to plan exactly right except we just didn’t make shots. We knew that we couldn’t go toe-to-toe with them so we tried to make the game ugly and hopefully frustrate them a little bit. It worked but if you don’t make shots and you can’t make enough points you can’t win.”

Dylan Staples scored seven points to lead Trimble’s offensive output. Skiler Alexander added five, Craig Ward and Austin Rexroat contributed three each and Daniel Haney scored two for the Raiders.

“You know the score looks bad but from the Grant County game to the Owen County game we made tremendous strides,” Leep said. “We only had five turnovers as opposed to 35 against Grant County. That’s something we’re really emphasizing right now in practice is our ball security.”