Dec 17, 2021 3 min read

MONONGAHELA – Down two starters, Ringgold’s boys basketball team put up a fight early but fell to visiting West Allegheny in non-section play Friday night, 84-48.

Ringgold played its second consecutive game without 6-1 freshman Zion Moore, who is averaging 18 points per game, and for the third straight game without 6-3 senior Jesus Davenport.

First-year head coach Matt Rowland refused to use their absences as excuses. Instead, he spoke about the two differences in the game.

“Eight different guys hit threes and we knew coming in they had great shooters,” he said of West Allegheny. “We just didn’t close out hard enough or have the right mindset to stop them tonight.

“We had stretches where we had one of two good plays and then three or four bad plays. Against teams like this, you can’t turn the ball over and let them hit threes. Any time we went on a run, we would turn the ball over and have to start over.”

West Allegheny (3-0) finished with 13 three-pointers while its full-court pressure forced Ringgold (2-2) into 23 turnovers.

After Nick Peccon scored the first five points of the game to give gave the Rams the lead, the Indians outscored them 24-7 the rest of the first quarter and took a 24-12 lead into the second.

It was the first of three big runs for the Indians. They closed the second quarter on a 16-2 run to take a 50-28 lead into halftime.

Peccon, who had 17 first-half points, hit four three-pointers in the second quarter to keep it close for a while, but that late Indians run gave Ringgold too big of a hill to climb.

While the Rams opened the second half with a 6-0 run to trim the Indians’ lead to 50-34, West Allegheny went on a 21-4 run to erase any Ringgold hope of a comeback.

Peccon finished with a game-high 25 points, and Lorenzo Glasser added a career-high 10 points. Scott Bilovus led West Allegheny with 21.

Rowland spoke highly about Peccon and Glasser as well as Daryl Toliver, who saw his first game action of the season.

“Nick continues to do a good job and him shooting like he did in the first half kept us in the game,” Rowland said. “Lorenzo did some good things for us as well.

“Even though we had the two starters out today, Daryl made his debut, and it was good to have him out there.”

With different guys getting time with Moore and Davenport out, Rowland hopes the experience will help and he also hopes to be at full strength soon.

“We hope to be at full strength Tuesday,” he said of Ringgold’s Class 5A Section 1 opener at South Fayette. “We haven’t been at full strength all year so we will see what happens.

“Regardless, we will have one heck of a practice Monday one way or another, but it would be nice to have everyone back by Christmas.”