Castlewood Escapes St. Paul With Victory

BY ANTHONY STEVENS
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT
ST. PAUL, Va. – It’s tough for opponents to play at the small gym at St. Paul.

Castlewood coach Wayne Rasnick knows this well after coaching at St. Paul for four years. That’s why he was more than happy to come away with a 55-35 Cumberland District road win on Friday.

“It’s a homecoming of sorts for me,” said Rasnick. “I’m really proud of our team defense tonight. This bunch will D you up. Anytime you can hold a team in the 30s, you have to be tickled to death.”

One of the big nights defensively was from Justin Smith. He held one of the Deacons top scorers, Tyler Phillips to seven points until Smith left the game late in the fourth quarter.

“Coach likes to put me against one of the tough players on each team,” said Smith. “I just try to get after it and go full tilt. It feels great anytime you can beat St. Paul.”

Smith was also the leading scorer with 16 points for the Blue Devils and also grabbed six rebounds.

“Smith had a big offensive night too,” Rasnick said. “But his priority is defense. He’s a great defender and puts a lot of work into it. He’s very dedicated to what we’re trying to do as a team.”

Castlewood (12-4, 6-1) raced out to a 13-4 lead midway through the first quarter but then went almost five minutes without scoring. St. Paul (6-10, 2-5) was also inconsistent. They cut the lead to three points early in the second quarter. But Castlewood scored eight of their next nine possessions and built a 28-14 advantage at the half.

The Deacons scored the first four points in the second half to cut the lead to 10 points and would have taken some of the momentum. But Derek Allen who stepped into a starting role, with an injury to Seth Justice a couple of weeks ago came through. Allen scored on the block and converted the free throws on consecutive 3-point plays to end the St. Paul comeback.

“Allen has worked his way into this lineup,” Rasnick said. “He plays hard and always gives 100 percent. He’s listens and is easy to coach. He has a lot of natural ability.”

Allen finished with 10 points. Ryan Meade added another double-double to the stat sheet with 12 points, 10 rebounds and also had five assists. Castlewood was 26 of 35 from the free-throw line. St. Paul made only 9 of 19 attempts.

“We have to figure out how to play defense without putting a good free throw shooting team on the line,” St. Paul coach Patrick Damron said. “We were fouling the wrong guys. We didn’t shoot the ball well, especially from the line. When we got down, we had to press, fouled and they made their free throws.”

Corey Ellis led the Deacons with 14 points and Phillips finished with 12 points.

CASTLEWOOD (55) – Smith 3 7-10 16, Rasnick 1 0-0 2, Meade 2 8-8 12, Bush 3 3-6 9, Allen 3 4-4 10, Collins 0 1-2 1, Dingus 1 1-1 3, Fields 0 0-0 0, Summers 1 0-2 2, Owens 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 26-35 55.
ST. PAUL (35) – Ellis 5 3-4 13, Lawson 2 2-4 6, T. Hileman 0 1-3 1, Fritz 0 0-0 0, Phillips 4 3-8 12, Dupuie 0 0-0 0, Kiser 0 0-0 0, D. Hileman 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 9-19 35.
Castlewood 13 15 8 19–55
St. Paul 8 6 10 11–35
3-point goals—Castlewood 1 (Smith 1), St. Paul 2 (Ellis 1, Phillips 1). Total fouls—Castlewood 18, St. Paul 25. Fouled out—Fritz, T. Hileman, Ellis. Technicals—Bush.

GIRLS
Castlewood 77, St. Paul 44

The Blue Devils got back on track after a huge road loss at Rye Cove on Tuesday.

“As bad as we played last game, we were worried about coming out tonight and having a letdown,” Castlewood coach Barry Ruff said. “This is never an easy game down here. We’ve had some struggles over the years. St. Paul played us tough but we were able to pull away.”

The Blue Devils opened up in a full-court press and jumped out to a 7-0 lead. St. Paul (4-13, 1-6) slowly battled back, cutting the lead to 22-19 on a 3 by Rachel Evans with 5:28 to play in the first half.

That got Castlewood’s attention. The Blue Devils ended the second quarter on an 11-1 run to take a 33-20 lead at the half. Castlewood (10-6, 6-1) outscored St. Paul 44-24 in the second half to roll to the win.

Lorren Evans led the Blue Devils with a game-high 19 points. Morgan Trent had an outstanding effort off the bench with 15 points, including three 3s and also led Castlewood with six rebounds. Kayla Gordon contributed 11 points.

Hannah Edwards and Emily Salyer each scored 12 points for St. Paul and Rachel Evans added 11 points.

CASTLEWOOD (77) – L. Evans 7 5-6 19, Counts 1 5-6 7, Addington 0 3-4 3, Gordon 4 2-6 11, Hall 3 1-2 7, Keen 0 0-2 0, Jessee 2 3-4 7, Wohlford 1 0-2 2, Trent 4 4-6 15, Gilbert 3 0-0 6. Totals 25 23-38 77.
ST. PAUL (44) – R. Evans 3 3-6 11, Crawford 0 0-0 0, N. Rose 0 1-4 1, Salyer 4 2-5 12, M. Rose 0 0-0 0, Hamm 1 0-0 2, Wells 2 2-5 6, Edwards 5 2-8 12. Totals 15 10-28 44.
Castlewood 19 14 20 24–77
St. Paul 10 10 13 11–44
3-point goals—Castlewood 4 (Trent 3, Gordon 1), St. Paul 4 (R. Evans 2, Salyer 2). Total fouls—Castlewood 19, St. Paul 22. Fouled out—Rose, Gilbert. Technicals—none.