Richlands wins county battle

By DAVE COX/Staff
The second meeting of the season between the Richlands and Tazewell boy’s varsity basketball teams was a stark contrast to the first one!
Just days earlier, Tazewell outlasted Richlands 93-90 in a shootout at the Tazewell Middle School. Last Thursday, it was time for revenge and an 85-60 blowout win for the Blues at the Richlands Middle School gym.
Richlands (10-2, 5-2 Southwest District) poured in the game’s first nine points and never came close to trailing in the district encounter. The first three of the Blues’ initial nine points belonged to Gunner McGee. He fired in a trey with just a minute gone in the game to give him 1000 for his high school career. McGee finished with 20 points on the night to give him 1017 career points, 337 behind RHS boy’s career point leader Ben Mulkey (1354).
“This has been one of my goals,” said a happy McGee after he became only the eighth Tornado player to reach the 1000-point career milestone. “It feels great to join some outstanding company. We played a lot better in this game than we did last week in the loss at Tazewell.”
The Blues doubled up Tazewell (3-11, 1-6 SWD) 22-11 by the end of the first quarter and held a comfortable 42-23 edge by halftime. The third period was more of the same with RHS on top 68-32 heading into the final frame. Every available player on each team scored as many reserves filled the floor in a 28-17 Tazewell fourth quarter.
McGee topped the Tornado effort with his 20 points. Austin Johnson added 19 points, Eric Mulkey 12, Taylor Mason and Blake Tatum eight each, Sean Overton six, Devon Johnson five, A.J. Johnson three and James Patton and Zach Horn two apiece. In addition to reaching 1000 points for his career, McGee had a double-double night with 10 rebounds. He hit one trey. Milkey bombed in three treys. Austin Johnson and Tatum had two treys each. Devon Johnson blocked two shots and Patton, Overton and Horn one each.
Tazewell was led by Jeremiah Jessee with 20 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double. Blake Hash came off the bench to register three treys and 11 points. Blaine Hancock finished with 10 points, Quenton Harris six, Lathel Mountain five, Cody McCann four, Shaquille McDonald three and Jon Hodges one. Harris blocked a shot on defense and hauled in seven rebounds for the Bulldogs. Richlands out-rebounded Tazewell42-36 as a team.