2A Prep Boys Basketball: R.A. Long plays possum, storms back to win at Mark Morris

Civil War — Four Lumberjacks hit double digits in 69-58 victory over Monarchs

R.A. Long’s Cameron Newsome (left) makes a slick pass around Mark Morris’ Mac West (right) to an open teammate in the paint during the Civil War, Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Bakamus Gymnasium. The Lumberjacks trailed by as many as 13 points early on before storming back to win 69-58. — Skyler Smith for Blast Zone Media

Jordan Nailon / blastzonenews@gmail.com

Most people know it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird. And, of course, the Lumberjacks would never want to harm one of their fine feathered friends. But for the benefit of the class, the R.A. Long boys basketball team would like you to consider the merits of killing a particular winged pest with a sledgehammer.

Please allow me to explain by way of the Lumberjacks 69-58 win over their rival Monarchs, Wednesday, in the season’s first Civil War.

Early on at Bakamus Gymnasium the visiting Lumberjacks looked all out of sorts. Their shots weren’t falling. Their defense was suspect. They’d allowed the Roundball Rowdies to get frothy in the Mark Morris student section, and they were trailing by double digits almost immediately.

On the flip side of that coin were the Monarchs, who came out on fire like they’d soaked their gameday attire in gasoline and walked through hell to warm up. Carson Bogner struck the first match with a 3-pointer in the moments after the tipoff, and followed up with a midrange score moments later. The hosts scored the first eight points of the night, and by the time Mac West scored a putback layin they’d managed to work their advantage all the way up to 13 points.

Mark Morris’ Carson Bogner (right) spins away from R.A. Long’s Payton Thill (left/1), and delivers a perfect pass to an open teammate during a 69-58 loss to the Lumberjacks in the Civil War game, Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Bakamus Gymnasium. — Blast Zone Media

But the Jacks have been down early in games plenty of times this season and there was no panic in their eyes. In fact, the more often they pull off the ol’ rope-a-dope slow start act, the more it begins to look like a feature of the team rather than a glitch.

Still, after one quarter of play, R.A. Long trailed 21-11 and some of the less experienced MM fans in the building could be overheard preemptively celebrating a win seemed all but inevitable to anyone with baby blue apparel in their closet.

That’s when the Jacks began to strike back. And it didn’t take long for the R.A. Long squad to change the vibes in the air at Natt Court in a way that only seasoned observers of Civil Wars past may have been able to anticipate.

“Coach told us, ‘Don’t let up. We like to kill a gnat with a sledge hammer!’” R.A. Long junior Joshua Crane said. “We don’t ease up.”

R.A. Long Head Coach Jeray Key (left) passionately hypes up Cameron Newsome (right) after a dramatic scoring run in the second quarter of the Civil War, Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Bakamus Gymnasium. That run, leda Mark Morris to call a timeout but the Lumberjacks went on to win 69-58. — Skyler Smith for Blast Zone Media