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Big early lead triggers Smoky Mountain past Rabun for initial basketball victory
Smoky Mountain jumped to a dominating early lead Friday and made the margin stand up by recording its first win of the basketball season, 73-54 over Rabun County (Ga.), at the SM gym.
Tyson Crawford scored 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Mustangs (1-2). Deron Fowler contributed 15 points, seven steals and five assists. John Salzano finished with 13 points, six assists and four steals Dustin Nicholson added 11 points and six rebounds.
Rabun's Will Dixon led all scorers with 22 points.
"It was good to have a game like this for our guys to build their confidence," Coach Scott Hartbarger said. "We jumped on them real quick and were able to hold the lead. Our defensive effort was tremendous."
The game was over almost before it started as SM held an 18-2 lead with 3:41 to go in the first period. Fowler had six points in the early spurt, and Nicholson added four.
The margin reached 24-3 when Cody Maney scored inside at the 1:44 mark, and it was 27-11 at the quarter break.
Crawford's follow shot gave the Mustangs their biggest lead of the half, 35-13, with 4:42 on the clock.
The Wildcats narrowed the deficit to 39-24 at intermission.
Eight straight points, including six by Fowler, opened the margin to 55-30 with 3:57 to play in the third stanza, which ended with SM leading 58-37.
The lead never dipped below 16 the rest of the way.
"Having Dustin back gave us some toughness inside, and that created opportunities for Tyson to score around the basket like he's capable of doing," Hartbarger said.
Nicholson served a state-mandated suspension the first two games after being ejected from the season's final football game.
The coach also singled out Salzano and Fowler.
Crawford hit nine field goals and was two of two from the line. Fowler made six field goals, including two three-pointers, and his only free throw try. Salzano connected on six field goals and also hit his lone free throw attempt. Nicholson made four field goals and was three of four from the line.
Maney added four points, Cory Siler and Martin Davis both scored three and Matt Gibson and Bryan Panther had two apiece.
"Everybody got to play, and everybody played well," Hartbarger said.
The Mustang JVs improved to 2-1 with a 58-34 win. Dayne Bowers and Kalin Haskett both had 12 points.
SM led at quarter breaks by scores of 19-8, 34-21 and 48-25.
"We just had more talent than they did," Coach Jim Hartbarger said. "Sometimes we played shaky, and sometimes we played great."
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