Tuesday, January 13, 2015 9:35 am

C stings Bees of Upperman
21-2 first half run lifts CC to home win

With five Lions scoring in double figures, Cannon County never trailed Upperman Tuesday night in its 60-54 home win.

Senior point guard Josh Ruehlen led the Cannon County attack with 14 points. A.J. Daniel, Jacob Nave, Garrett McReynolds and Austin Martin each finished with 10-apiece.

Up 13-11 late in the opening quarter, the Lions (15-5, 4-1) closed the first half on a 21-2 run, extending the lead to 34-13, the largest on the game.

"We do a lot of good things when we're in attack-mode in transition," head coach Matt Rigsby said.
In addition, Upperman went 0-for-10 from the field in second stanza, in large part due to the paint presence of big man Austin Martin.

"Martin's defense was huge in the second quarter. He really altered a lot of shots and bodied up a lot of dribblers," Rigsby said. "Austin is not important because he's tall, Austin is important because he's 6'5 and he's still so quick. He is a gazelle getting up the floor."

Cannon County shot 54 percent (17-of-31) from the free-throw line on the game.
"We didn't want the ball in our hands at times because I think we we're scared-to-death that we would go to the line and miss free-throws," Rigsby said.

As a result the Bees cut into the fourth quarter lead, pulling to within seven points with 3:18 remaining.
Added Rigsby: "We made just enough plays in the fourth quarter to make sure we held onto (the win)."

Upperman
11 02 21 20 54
Cannon County
16 18 08 18 60

Upperman: Ben Guffey 11, Austin Shrum 12, Austyn McWilliams 24, Bailey Phillips 2, Hunter Shrum 1, Jake Dronebarger 3, Brendan Ely 1.

Cannon County: Josh Ruehlen 14, Jacob Nave 10, Austin Martin 10, Garret McReynolds 10, Briar Jakes 6, A.J. Daniel 10.