November 13, 2018
INDEPENDENCE, Kan. - With one more home game left before hitting the road, the Independence Pirates played host to the Southwestern Christian Eagles. The Pirates, led by Ricky Edwards with 19 points pulled together convincingly, hitting nine three-pointers in a 101-47 dominating victory.
"I thought we played hard and as a team tonight," coach Tony Turner said. "When you're able to make shots, good things happen, and it made a big difference in the game.
"Going into the Moberly game, we'll have to improve with our play on defense and they'll be competitive with their trap game. I've never watched State Fair, but we'll watch them play Friday night and come up with a game plan for Saturday."
In the first half, the Pirates drew first blood with a quick three-pointer from Ricky Edwards and he continued with another long shot to give them a 6-0 lead at the 18:45 mark. Independence continued to roll with Ricky Edwards making an inside layup while getting fouled. With the free throw, Independence went up 9-0.
"Coming into this game, we've been struggling with pulling away from opponents," Edwards said. "We finally got it together tonight and build some confidence going forward."
"Going into this weekend, we have to play like we did tonight and be just as competitive if not more on defense. Once all that falls into place, we'll be in a very good position to win."
The Pirates went up 11-0 with a breakaway layup by Tonje Durham before a foul on the other end sent Dejoun Sanders to the line where he made only one out of two. An inside jumper by Tyreece Berry made the score 13-1, but a free throw by Tony Caufield cut the lead back down to eleven.
A free throw by Myles Rankin made the score 13-3 and a long shot from Tyler Johnson cut the lead to seven just before a pair of free throws from Jayce Cravens. A three-pointer from Da'Juan Edwards pushed the score to 16-8 and Mamady Djikine pushed the lead to ten with 13:15
Independence continued to surge on an 8-0 run after buckets from Derrick Redmon and Anquaevious Pollard and put backs by Sean Pollack to make the score 26-8 at the 8:05 mark. A jumper by Rankin cut the lead to down to sixteen points, but a bank by Jibril Harris made the score 28-10 right before two free throws from Cravens.
Ricky Edwards torched the net again making the score 31-12 but a 5-0 run had the lead down to fourteen. A 5-2 Pirates run made the score 36-19 after a long shot from the outside from Kori Guest and a run of 9-2 pushed it to 45-21 after back to back buckets by Kofi Maze at the 3:13 mark. The Pirates closed out the first half on an 11-5 run and led 56-26.
In the second half, Durham quickly found the basket and Ricky Edwards drained a shot downtown pushing the score to 61-26. Durham found the basket again and was fouled with a make before a block by Harris turned into points for Ricky Edwards pushing the lead out to 40 points with 17:00 left to play.
Independence went on a 5-2 run after a three-pointer by Da'Juan Edwards with 15:00 left to play and Derrick Redmon answered with a steal and score in transition pushing the score to 73-28 for the Pirates and then a 6-2 run after a put back by Kevin Charles to push the lead out to 49 points.
The Eagles had an 8-2 run going and turnovers along with poorly timed shots were beginning to become an issue, but after a reverse layup by Pollard the Pirates led by a score of 86-38. Independence closed out the game on a 15-9 run and claimed a huge victory.
Independence (3-3) is on the road this weekend playing the Moberly Greyhounds Friday November 16 and Saturday November 17 against the State Fair Roadrunners in the State Fair Classic.