MICHAEL KIRAL

RESERVE – Reserve Christian’s balanced scoring continued Friday night as five Eagles scored in double figures in a 92-57 victory over Mount Hermon at “The Nest.” The victory improved first place Reserve Christian to 3-0 in District 12-B play and 30-14 overall. The win was fourth in the row for the Eagles. Mount Hermon dropped to 7-16 overall and 0-3 in district. Chris McClain led the way for Reserve Christian with 22 points and five assists. Matt McGee, despite playing with four fouls for most of the second half, finished with 15 points and a team-high 18 rebounds. He also altered seven shots. Paul Labiche had 14 points and six rebounds. Frankie Francois had 13 points to go with eight rebounds and four steals. Demond Carter tossed in another 12 points. Reserve Christian was coming off a 100-65 win over Phoenix. “We’ve been scoring a lot of points,” Reserve Christian head coach Timmy Byrd said. “We’ve been clicking offensively. We have been getting good balance on the offensive end and have been playing well together. We playing with a lot of team chemistry. I’m really pleased with this team. They’ve really come together. They are unselfish and give the ball up. They are fun to coach.” For the Yellowjackets, Toby Coleman led with 13 points. Ray Waskom had another 10 points while James Causey had nine. Chad Brumfield and Keneth Seal chipped in with eight points apiece. Mount Carmel took an early 7-5 lead behind a 3-pointer by Coleman and two free throws by Waskom. Reserve Christian tied the game on a layup by McGee, then took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Francois with 2:58 left in the quarter. McGee followed with a jumper and Carter drove in to make it 14-7. Three-pointers by Kevin Phipps and McClain built the lead to 20-7 at the end of the first quarter. McClain opened the second quarter with another 3-pointer from the left wing, then scored off a rebound by Phipps to make it 25-7 with 6:48 left in the half. Mount Hermon scored its first basket in over seven minutes as Causey scored off a rebound by Coleman at the 6:05 mark. Reserve Christian answered with drives by Francois and Labiche to make it 29-11. Two 3-pointers by Seal brought the Yellowjackets to within 35-19 with under three minutes to play in the half. But the Eagles again came back with a hook shot by Matt Jackson and a drive by Francois to take a 41-21 lead into halftime. Reserve Christian scored the first 10 points of the second half behind 3-pointers by Carter and Labiche. Mount Hermon got its first field goal of the half with 5:45 left on a jumper by Causey. But McGee responded with a reverse layup and a jumper in the paint and McClain converted a three-point play to make it 58-27 with 4:46 left. Jackson gave the Eagles their biggest lead to that point at 70-33 on a layup and a put back late in the quarter. Mount Hermon got a 3-pointer from the left wing by Phillip Burris and a jumper by Joseph Jones to close to within 70-38 at the end of the quarter. The Yellowjackets pulled to within 73-45 early in the fourth on a 3-pointer by Waskom and a drive by Seal. But McClain responded on the next possession with a 3-pointer from the top of the key. Another 3-pointer by Carter made it 83-45 with 4:40 left. Reserve Christian finished with 12 3-pointers in 23 attempts in the game. Reserve Christian wrapped up District 12-B play last night against Phoenix at home. The Eagles travel to Faith Christian Friday.