WINNSBORO – The Richard Winn boys hosted a tough Anderson Christian team on Tuesday night, and the Eagles passed the test with flying colors. RWA jumped out to a big lead early, but had to stave off a furious Lions’ comeback in order to maintain a 54-44 win. The Eagles knocked 11 threes in the victory, and five of those were from senior Will Carvalho.
Senior Will Carvalho (11) makes the open court pass in Monday’s game against Oakbrook. | Martha Ladd
“They’re coached very well and they have great athletes, so we knew we were going to get a punch from them,” Eagles head coach Nick Chaisson said. “They made adjustments; they put their big guy back out in the middle on our baseline plays, but we made adjustments as well to try to spread them out a little bit.”
Richard Winn had the hot hand in the opening minutes, and 12 of their 15 first-quarter points came from behind the perimeter. Anderson Christian, on the other-hand, could not get anything to fall, and the Lions were behind 15-5 after a period of play.
Dre Washington was a main component to the Anderson Christian come back, and it started with a 15-point second quarter. Washington worked his team back within striking distance, and the Eagles led 27-24 at the half.
The Eagles fought to maintain the lead in the third quarter, but with under two minutes left to go in the period, Joel Dance downed a three and gave the Lions their first lead since the opening minutes. Washington sank a three of his own to give Anderson Christian the 41-38 lead headed into the final quarter.
“We’ve been playing Anderson Christian for about 10 years now and we haven’t beat them,” Chaisson said. “Our guys are playing with a lot of confidence right now, and I just reminded them you’re just as good as these guys.”
Richard Winn’s defense went on lockdown mode in the fourth and held the Lions to only three points in the final eight minutes. Darius Boyd and Hudson Wade turned on the jets down the stretch and they combined for 13 points in the fourth to secure the tough early season win.
RWA: 15-12-11-16-54
AC: 5-19-17-3-44
RW – Darius Boyd – 18, Will Carvalho – 15, Hudson Wade – 8, Dru Caldwell – 7, Jimmy McKeown – 5, John Russell – 1.
AC: Dre Washington – 23, Joel Dance – 10, Omacio Brownlee – 6, Braxton Allmon – 3, Zachary Kahler -2.