Ripley sophomore Blake Fyffe muscles up a shot while being fouled by West Union defenders during the Southern Hills Athletic Conference Boys Basketball Preview held Nov. 24. Fyffe led the Jays in the half-game preview with 14 points. Photo by Wade Linville
It was an assist by Ripley’s junior guard Austin Manning leading to a bucket by sophomore Blake Fyffe that lifted the Blue Jays to a 30-28 victory over the West Union Dragons in the annual Southern Hills Athletic Conference Boys Basketball Preview Games held at Peebles High School, Nov. 24.
It was a good preseason showing from the Blue Jays in their first year under the leadership of head coach Chris Coleman, who last year headed the Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington varsity girls basketball program as a longtime coach and previously served as an assistant in RULH varsity boys basketball.
Blake Fyffe racked up seven points in the first quarter to aid the Jays to a 15-10 lead.
The Dragons rallied to tie the game at 28 in the second quarter of the half-game preview, but it was Blake Fyffe’s bucket late in the second quarter that put the Jays up by two points. West Union’s Trae Grooms missed the last second shot from three-point land against a solid Ripley defensive effort.
Blake Fyffe led the Jays in scoring with 14 points in two quarters of play.
Manning finished with four points.
Ty Fyffe, Jayden Bartley, Owen Kirk, Jackson French, Brayden Boone, and Reece Rigdon each contributed two points for Ripley in the winning effort.
In the final match-up of the night between the Fayetteville-Perry Rockets and the North Adams Green Devils, it was the Green Devils claiming a 36-15 victory.