The Rising Sun boys basketball team exorcised a couple of demons Tuesday night. The Tigers snapped a lengthy road losing streak and gained a measure of revenge against Perryville by downing the host Panthers 56-46. Rising Sun last won a road game at Elkton February 24, 2014, the final regular season game of the 2013-14 season. "We've been talking about that for a while," Rising Sun coach Don Passenant said. "That was a big goal for us, to win on the road, break the ice. I had guys break the ice. Jake (Keane) is a great three-point shooter. He's missed them all so far. I know he's a great shooter. He made one [Tuesday night]. Guys were making shots. [They were] really frustrated but now they're playing better. We broke the ice in a lot of ways." Noah Juergens started the game with a three-pointer and the Tigers never trailed. Juergens had six of his 11 points in the opening quarter as Rising Sun built a 14-6 lead. The Tigers led 20-9 with 3:19 left in the second quarter before Perryville went on a 9-1 run to narrow the gap to three with a minute left before halftime. But Rising Sun's Casey Baker hit a three-pointer and had a steal and layup to up the Tigers' lead to 26-18 at intermission. "When they started coming back they got some momentum, but then once we started hitting our shots, and getting that lead back we stopped their momentum and we established a lead through the whole game," said Baker. Baker, who finished with 15 points, also scored the final five points of the third quarter to make it 42-29. In the fourth quarter, Perryville got as close as six at 52-46 with 47 seconds left before Baker and Will Farrington each hit two free throws to seal the deal. A week earlier in the Cecil College holiday tournament, Rising Sun led Perryville early but had trouble protecting the ball and wound up losing by double digits. Baker was not available for that game. He was a difference-maker in the second meeting. "It definitely was a factor having that extra ball-handler," said Passenant. "Nothing against the other guys, but Casey can play the point or the two, same as Noah (Juergens). When you have both of those guys out there or at least one of them we feel good about getting the ball up the court." Baker benefited from watching a video of the holiday tournament game. "I was able to watch film on them from the game and I just took some things from that and I tried to work my offense and our offense around that," he said. "When [Rising Sun] played them at Cecil, they weren't really moving very well. We weren't getting open shots so I just tried to mix the ball around…get it inside more because we weren't really getting the ball inside and making easy shots." Perryville coach Charles Givens Sr. did not think his team came in overconfident after topping the Tigers on December 29. "Had nothing to do with it," he said. "The kids were aware of that and they knew last week that game was really meaningless because it was a Christmas tournament game. This game here is more meaningful. No, I wouldn't use that [as an excuse]. My kids just didn't play well. They didn't play well so you can give the blame to me. I didn't have them prepared, basically. So, that's life. Maybe next time we play them we'll have a remedy to solve that situation. Overall, I thought our kids played well. [Rising Sun] just played a little bit better. They made some foul shots. We didn't. They made some outside shots. We didn't. They scored inside as well as we did. So, I don't know if that summarizes the game, but that's all I can tell you." Passenant was impressed with the way his team carried themselves. "This time we came out focused," the Tigers' coach said. "I wasn't sure how they would be when they came out. When I saw them in the locker room before the game started I knew they were serious. It was quiet in there. They were focused. That's a big thing. They really showed me something." Last February, the Tigers were routed 61-19 at Perryville. "Anytime you get beat by that many points in a game, that motivates you when you come back," said Passenant. "You don't want that to happen again. I know they didn't want that to happen again…[The Rising Sun players] know they were a better team last year and they're definitely a better team this year. They wanted to show that they're a better team. They remembered. I didn't have to remind them." Comments are closed.
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