BOYS BASKETBALL: Cyclones dig deep ball

You live by the 3-pointer and die by the 3-pointer, but the Cyclones made a home beyond the arch Friday night against the visiting Courtland Cougars.

Tra Shanks and Justin Gardiner led the way from downtown as Eastern View racked up seven 3-pointers and topped Courtland, 53-33, for the Cyclones’ first win over the Cougars in program history.

“We just knew we had to come out, play hard and execute,” EVHS head coach Donald O’Meara said. “They [the Cougars] are pure jump shooters, so on defense we knew if we took their legs away they would starting missing.”

Shanks and Gardiner both drained two 3-poiners, while Ben Safren, Monte Mosley and L.J. Hackley got into the act as well.

Safren put the game’s first points on the board from 3-point range. The deep ball dried up for Eastern View for a while after that, but the Cyclones kept pulling the trigger and it paid off.

“It’s huge for those guys to pull that trigger, and if they didn’t you saw me pull them out and put somebody else in,” O’Meara said. “We’ve got a deep bench and we’ve got guys who can knock down shots.”

The Cyclones (6-10 overall, 4-6 Battlefield) went into halftime with a 24-17 lead, but pulled away in the third quarter — hitting four of their 3-pointers and leading by as much as 14 points.

“When somebody is going to pack it in on us like they did tonight then we have to knock those shots down to open it up,” O’Meara said. “They were playing a box-and-1 on Ben, so we needed somebody else to step up and hit some 3’s.”

P.J. White led the Cyclones with 12 points and eight rebounds, while Shanks added nine points and Safren and Gardiner both finished with six points. In all, 11 of the 12 players on the Cyclones’ roster recorded a basket.

Kyle Talley led the Cougars (3-14, 3-7) with 17 points. Sheldon White added six.

Eastern View travels to Caroline on Tuesday. 

Eastern View 53, Courtland 33

CHS     10  7  13  3 — 33

EVHS  16  8  17  12 — 53

Scoring summary

Courtland (3-14, 3-7) — Kyle Talley 17, Sheldon White 6, Yoshon Carpenter 5, Damian Washington 3, Wayne Hawkins 2.

Eastern View (6-10, 4-6) — P.J. White 12, Tra Shanks 9, Monte Mosley 6, Ben Safren 6, Justin Gardiner 6, Kane Reece 3, Will Estes 3, L.J. Hackley 3, Alejandro Rivera 2, Desean Apperson 2, Jordan Queen 1. 

Team totals

Rebounds — Courtland 15, Eastern View 32.

Free throws — Courtland 11-14. Eastern View 16-26.

3-pointers — Courtland 2 (Talley, White). Eastern View 7 (Shanks 2, Gardiner 2, Safren, Mosley, Hackley).

Turnovers — Courtland 16, Eastern View 14.