Five three-pointers from the Raiders’ Reterrium Davis weren’t enough to overcome another significant stat in Madison County’s Saturday loss to Brookwood.
And that stat would be the Broncos hitting 25-of-28 attempts at the free throw line in holding off the Raiders, 67-61, in Snellville.
“Yeah, huge …,” Madison County coach Steve Crouse said of those numbers. “We don’t want to put people on the free throw line 28 times.”
Davis scored 18 points, going 5-of-9 from beyond the arc, but Madison County didn’t take advantage of its own limited opportunities at the charity stripe, hitting just 7-of-13 attempts.
Not that they didn’t make things interesting, though.
Madison County trailed by more than 20 points at one point in the third quarter before whittling Brookwood’s lead to just two with 46 seconds left. But the Raiders had to put the Broncos back on the free throw line where the Class AAAAA team sealed the victory. Brookwood hit just two field goals in the fourth quarter, but went 10-of-13 from the line in the final period.
“We came back in the second half and started to play,” Crouse said. “I was very proud of our guys for coming back and winning the second half.”
Crouse said some sub-par practices last week had him concerned heading into the season opener. The Raiders then found themselves in an early hole against Brookwood, trailing 17-9 after the first quarter and 37-25 at the half.
“We had not practiced well the two or three days before we played … If you don’t practice well, you can’t expect to start well in the game,” Crouse said.
In addition to Davis’s 18 points, the Raiders also got 11 points each from Patrick McCrary and Bradley Raines.
With three different players in double figures and other players with scoring ability, Crouse thinks this team may be able to put up some points this year.
“If we execute, we’ll be able to score,” Crouse said. “Defensively, we’ve got to be able to stop people.”
And stop foes from getting to the free throw line so often.
“You give someone 28 free throws and they shoot 89 percent, you’re going to have a hard time beating them that night,” Crouse said.
Brookwood 67, Madison Co. 61
Score-by-quarter
MCHS 9 16 12 24 — 61
BHS 17 20 15 15 — 67
Scorers: Davis 18, McCrary 11, Raines 11, Griffeth 9, Fleming 6, McGuire 3, Smith 3
