Restelli, Shutters Lead Baylor Past Red Bank
Sticky Defense The Key As Red Raiders Win, 49-31
As the old saying goes, offense puts fans in the stands while defense wins championships.
The Baylor Red Raiders returned to action Tuesday night following last week's Best of Preps basketball title with a home game against the Red Bank Lions.
The offense didn't click so much for the Red Raiders as did their defense and the result was a 49-31 victory over the Lions inside Jimmy Duke Arena.
Baylor has more than its share of outstanding shooters, but for whatever reason, the shots just didn't fall like they normally do.
Despite that fact, Baylor's defense was really strong as they limited a talented Red Bank squad to just 31 points, including only 11 in the first half.
That fact alone brought a smile to Baylor coach Mark Price's face.
"I'm just glad we won," Price said after his team had improved to 6-4 with its fifth straight win.
"Red Bank is a scrappy team and we knew they would battle, but we just couldn't seem to make a shot. It was hard to get any kind of rhythm on the offensive end, but we finally broke through in the fourth quarter.
"We've gotten better every time we play and we've had some really good practices since winning the tournament on Friday, but we were missing a couple of key players tonight. We've had more than our share of adversity to start the season, but we'll just keep battling and hope things eventually even out," he added.
Red Bank had one of its best teams a year ago, but they graduated some seven players from that team, so it's been sore of a rebuilding process for coach Nike Fike and his Lions.
Fike knows that games like this one will only help his team down the stretch. The veteran coach liked what he saw for the first three quarters, but something went awry at that point.
"I thought we played good basketball for the first three quarters, but for some unknown reason, we decided to not follow the game plan in the fourth quarter and that's when Baylor broke it open," Fike said in the hallway just outside the Red Bank dressing room following the game.
"It was a defensive game for three quarters, but we decided to play a different brand of basketball in the fourth and it hurt. You have to be tough and disciplined to play solid defense for four quarters and tonight, we weren't," Fike added.
Kalen Sewell sank two free throws in the opening minute to give Red Bank and early lead and he scored on a putback at the 5:42 mark of the first quarter for a 4-2 Red Bank lead.
With Baylor's Zane Restelli scoring seven of his game-high 22 points during the final stretch, the Red Raiders scored nine of the next 11 points and had an 11-8 lead at the first break.
Jaylen Rice sank a 3 from the wing early in the second stanza to get the Lions within 13-11 before Baylor scored the final four points for a 17-11 lead at intermission.
Malik Rizer scored on a drive down the lane to start the second half and Anthony Bonner followed with a 3 from the corner as Red Bank got within a point at 17-16 with 6:48 left in the third.
But that was as close as the Lions would get as Jao Rego and Restelli hit back-to-back 3s in the final minute to put Baylor ahead 29-21 with one quarter remaining.
The Red Raiders then used a 12-4 run in the first half of the fourth quarter to build their biggest lead to that point at 41-25 following a steal and layup by Rego with 3:45 to play.
Restelli scored on a drive down the lane in the final minute to give Baylor its biggest lead of 21 points at 49-28 before Kendrick Lloyd finished the scoring for Red Bank with a 3 at the end to make the final margin 18 points.
Restelli scored 22 points to lead the Baylor attack, including 13 in the second half. Shutters had a strong fourth quarter with 10 points and followed with 18.
Bonner and Sewell were the leading scorers for Red Bank with six points apiece.
Baylor also had an unofficial 34-25 rebounding advantage as Shutters grabbed 11 and Restelli seven to lead Baylor. Cam Sparks also snagged six for the Red Raiders.
Sewell grabbed eight to lead the Lions while Lloyd was next with six.
Red Bank, now 8-9 after Tuesday's game, will be at home on Friday to face Soddy Daisy while Baylor will also be at home for its next game against Hamilton Heights, also on Friday.
BOYS SUMMARY
RED BANK 8 3 10 10 -- 31
BAYLOR 11 6 12 20 -- 49
RED BANK (31) – J. Johnson 3, Bonner 6, Rice 5, K. Johnson, Lloyd 5, Sewell 6, Rizer 2, Crutcher 2, Collier 2.
BAYLOR (49) – Barton, Zane Restelli 22, Sparks, Rego 7, Fields, Haynie 2, Rushing, Jack Shutters 18.
3-POINT GOALS: Red Bank 4 (J. Johnson, Bonner, Rice, Lloyd); Baylor 2 (Restelli, Rego).
RECORDS: Red Bank 8-9; Baylor 6-4.
Story by John Hunt
Restelli, Shutters Lead Baylor Past Red Bank - Chattanoogan.com
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