GLASGOW – Glasgow was able to come out on top this time.
After suffering back-to-back losses their last two times out, the Scotties returned to their winning ways on Saturday evening with a grinded-out 62-58 win over Warren East.
The Scotties (17-5 overall, 10-3 Region 4) found themselves in a hole early but were able to regroup and bounce back. Glasgow had to respond to multiple Warren East runs throughout the contest, and it payed off at the end.
“We’ve been in a little bit of a funk. There’s no secret about it,” Glasgow coach James Willett said. “We weren’t scoring a lot of points earlier this week and had a tough night against Barren County last night, and they did a really good job against us. Tonight, I felt we faced that adversity again.
“We were flat. We got down in the second half and I was a little worried, but I thought we grew up a little tonight. This time of the year it’s about whether or not you can fight through some adversity, and I thought our guys did that tonight. I’m proud of ‘em.”
The Raiders (12-9, 8-7) carried most of the momentum early and took a quick 6-0 lead, but Glasgow answered for the first of many times on the night. The Scotties led by two after the first quarter, trailed by five at halftime, and then led by two before closing it in the fourth.
Peyton Mills led Glasgow with 18 points, while Dalvin Smith scored 14. Nik Sorrell finished with 13 points, and Jaden Franklin added 10. Adante Barber and Brevon Whitney each scored 14 points to carry Warren East, while Tashawn Neal had 13.
“My teammates were feeding me, and I was making shots,” Mills said. “I was trying to feed everyone else at the end of the game and make it count. We have five players (averaging double figures) and the bench is very good, too, so we had to get everyone going. If we do that, we’re gonna be a good ball club.”
Warren East got going early, as it jumped out to a 6-0 lead with four of the six points coming from Thomas Maxey. Glasgow fired back with a 7-0 run to go up 7-6, and 11 first quarter points from Mills gave the Scotties a 17-15 lead at the end of one.
The Raiders regrouped and opened the ensuing period with a 6-2 run to retake a lead – this one at 21-19 – but back-to-back buckets by Smith helped Glasgow tie it at 23-all at the 4:32 mark.
Five straight points from Neal and a bucket by Barber resulted in a 7-0 run for East and gave it a 36-31 advantage at halftime. At the break, Whitney had 10 points for the Raiders, while Neal had scored nine.
Mills was leading the charge for the Scotties with 15 points at intermission.
Warren East scored the first four points of the third quarter to build a 40-31 lead – its largest of the game – but Glasgow responded with a 10-3 run to cut the Raiders’ lead to just two at 43-41 with 3:01 remaining in the period.
“Just a lot of fight. We never gave up,” Mills said. “We were down at halftime and then we were down in the third quarter, but we had to fight back – and we did. We answered.”
Sorrell’s basket on a drive inside helped the Scotties even it at 43-43, and then it was 45-all with just over a minute left in the third. Another basket by Sorrell then gave Glasgow a 47-45 lead entering the fourth.
The two sides went at it in the final quarter.
The Raiders took a 56-55 lead after a Barber bucket, but Smith scored inside to put the Scotties back up one. Leading 59-58 with 1:56 remaining, Glasgow scored the final three points of the contest from the free-throw line to record a much-needed win at home.
“It’s been a really good season, but at the same time, these guys are good,” said Willett. “These guys are talented, and people around here knew that we had this coming. There’s some expectations here. Even with this turnaround, we still expect to win most of these games. When you don’t, it’s time to get to work and find a way to fix it.”
Senior writer Tyler Mansfield can be reached at mansfield.sportingtimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @_TylerMansfield.
