Home Notice Box Sports Everybody scores in Xenia win over Graham

Everybody scores in Xenia win over Graham

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By John Bombatch

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XENIA — In Xenia’s first outing since losing its first regular season game, there was no worrying about any residual effects. The host Buccaneers scored early and often in Tuesday’s 91-50 rout over St. Paris Graham.

There were 12 Xenia players listed in the scorebook and each of them scored. Ray James led the way with a 23-point total, and 19 of that was tallied by halftime. He and the rest of the starters did not play in the game’s final period of play.

The Bucs (5-1) rolled out to a 25-6 lead after eight minutes of play. By halftime, the score was now 48-17. It was 73-30 before Xenia coach Kent Anderson sat his starting five of Danny Naylor, Rocky and Ray James, Ryan Johnson and Samari Curtis. But Anderson’s reserves still accounted for 36 of the Buccaneers’ points.

“It’s the best part of having a game like this,” Anderson said. “We were able to get over our first loss (last week to Centerville), and we got a lot of people some playing time. It was a conditioning game as well, we were up and down the floor quite a bit on the fastbreak. But what I really liked was that we were unselfish with the basketball and made some good passes.”

Anderson used Garett Salyers’ pass to Rocky James for a jarring dunk as an example of unselfish play. Earlier in the game, Ray James had fired a bullet pass to his second cousin for another dunk.

Aside from Ray James’ 23 points, Rocky finished with 12 points, Kobe Hughlett scored 10 second-half points, Curtis finished with 17 and Brandon Love had 11.

“It was good to see other guys doing well,” Anderson said. “I was glad to see Kobe and Brandon get untracked and get involved offensively. It was just a good overall game. We’ve got one Friday against West Carrollton and that’s the one we want to get in our league.”

Xenia plays at West Carrollton at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The Bucs won’t have another home contest until next year. They’re at Dayton Meadowdale on Monday, at Springfield for a Greater Western Ohio Conference crossover game on Jan. 5, 2016, at Springboro for what could be a key GWOC South battle on Jan. 8, before they will host Kettering Fairmont on Jan. 12 for another GWOC crossover battle. Those games all have 7:30 p.m. tip-off times.

Graham coach Mike Smart was tending to a parental form issue with a Falcons player and was unable to comment after the game. His team never stopped playing hard, despite the lopsided deficit.

Andrew Ford led the Falcons (1-5) with 15 points, Cameron Wiley finished with 10, and Daniel Newport tossed in eight for Graham. The Falcons return to Central Buckeye Conference, Mad River Division action on Friday when they’ll be playing at Bellefontaine Benjamin Logan.

Ray James scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the first half of Tuesday’s 91-50 home win over St. Paris Graham.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2015/12/web1_RayJames19.jpgRay James scored 19 of his game-high 23 points in the first half of Tuesday’s 91-50 home win over St. Paris Graham. Don Tate | Greene County News

Rocky James (4) dunks the ball between Graham’s Ian Lokai (left) and Connor Wiley (5), during Tuesday’s non-conference game at Xenia High School.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2015/12/web1_RockyDunk.jpgRocky James (4) dunks the ball between Graham’s Ian Lokai (left) and Connor Wiley (5), during Tuesday’s non-conference game at Xenia High School. Don Tate | Greene County News

Xenia freshman Samari Curtis drives to the basket, Tuesday at Xenia High. Curtis scored 11 points in the third quarter and finished with 17 in a 91-50 win over the Falcons of St. Paris Graham.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2015/12/web1_CurtisDrive.jpgXenia freshman Samari Curtis drives to the basket, Tuesday at Xenia High. Curtis scored 11 points in the third quarter and finished with 17 in a 91-50 win over the Falcons of St. Paris Graham. Don Tate | Greene County News

By John Bombatch

[email protected]

John Bombatch can be reached at (937) 372-4444, Ext. 2123.