Trojans run to win at West

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WEST PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth Trojans used a strong second quarter to run past Portsmouth West on Saturday night — defeating the host Senators 84-63 in a non-league contest.

After taking an 18-15 lead through the first eight minutes, Portsmouth outscored West 28-16 in the second period.

Trojans coach Gene Collins said after the game his team was able to establish their up-tempo pace early, which helped turn defensive stops into transition points the other way.

“We felt like the pace was important for us knowing they play more of a half-court game. We wanted to get the game going up and down, we were able to get them sped up early in the game which opened the floor up,” Collins said. “They shot and missed, we were able to do a good job getting the rebound and throwing over the top for layups to extend our lead.”

Portsmouth was led in scoring by junior Devin Lattimore’s game-high 35 points on 15 field goals and a four-of-six night at the foul line.

At halftime, Lattimore led all scorers with 17 points and finished the second half with 18 — including 10 of the Trojans’ 22 points in the fourth.

Junior DeAndre Berry scored 28 points in the victory, sinking three of their five made three-pointers in addition to a five-of-six free throw shooting game.

“Those two are really hard, tough to guard especially when we get out in the open court,” Collins said. “Devin takes it to the rim hard, DeAndre can take it inside or stand and shoot it. Those guys create nightmares for people when they’re on and they were on tonight.”

Senior Kenny Sanderlin scored eight of his 13 points in the third quarter, including a huge three-pointer that extended Portsmouth’s lead back to double-digits with West threatening.

“Kenny’s a guy that we don’t get to where we need to be without him,” Collins said. “He has to guard bigger, stronger post guys. We ask him to a lot — defend, rebound, and score. He’s a two-way player for us. We’re really going to have to count on those big three to get us to where we need to go.”

West was led by senior Ryan Sissel’s team-high 19 points on seven field goals and five-of-10 free throws.

Junior Cole Tipton caught fire in the midst of several West runs, making five of the team’s six three-pointers and scoring 17 points.

The Trojans secured a 68-53 victory at Mars Hill in Mason on Tuesday night in a non-league contest.

Portsmouth (8-12, 4-9 OVC) will host Ironton (Feb. 10) and Minford (Feb. 17) to close out their regular season schedule.

West (7-15, 4-12 SOC II) closed out their regular season with a 74-40 loss to Minford on Tuesday night.

“We’ve got to continue working on sharing the ball, playing good basketball,” Collins said. “Defense is something you have to work on every single day. Sharing the ball and playing the right way, and finding ways to close out games. We have a tough stretch late with home games against Ironton and Minford — those are going to be tune-up games that help get us ready for the tournament.”

* * *

Portsmouth 15 31 16 22—84

Ports. West 18 13 20 12—63

PORTSMOUTH 84

Devon Lattimore 15 4-6 35, Donovan Breech 1 0-0 2, Tyler Duncan 0 0-0 0, Kenny Sanderlin 4 4-5 13, Noah Livingston 0 0-0 0, Levaughn Cobb 0 0-0 0, Isaiah Lewis 0 1-1 1, Brock Anthony 1 0-0 2, Luke Stine 1 1-2 3, DeAndre Berry 10 5-6 28; TOTALS 32 15-20 84; Three-point field goals: 5 (DeAndre Berry 3, Devon Lattimore and Kenny Sanderlin 1 apiece)

WEST 63

Jack Jordan 0 0-0 0, Mason Parker 0 0-0 0, Mitchell Irwin 4 5-5 14, Jeffery Bishop 4 0-0 8, Cole Tipton 6 0-0 17, Diamonte Skaggs 0 1-3 1, Ryan Sissel 7 5-10 19, Trevor Fike 2 0-0 4; TOTALS 23 11-18 63; Three-point field goals: 6 (Cole Tipton 5, Mitchell Irwin 1)

Reach Jacob Smith at (740) 370-0713 ext. 1930, by email at [email protected], or on Twitter @JacobSmithPDT © 2023 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved

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