By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
The trip to Ripley High School has not often been a kind one in recent years for the Peebles Indians but on Tuesday night, they made a quick switch in that narrative. Thus far in the 2023-24 season, Coach Josh Arey and his squad are unbeaten and they took their 3-0 record into Ripley on Tuesday and emerged with that mark improved to 4-0.
The game was tied at 2 apiece in the first minute but Carson Reed three-pointer broke that deadlock and began a 9-0 Peebles run and the visitors never looked back. The Indians extended their margin out to 16-6 after one quarter and then then began stanza number two with a 7-0 spurt, baskets by Hayden Browning and Grady Knechtly, plus a three-pointer from Browning to make it 23-6.
Ripley got a three-ball from Ty Fyffe but the Tribe answered with a 6-0 run to go up 31-11. By the halftime break, the Indians were leading by a comfortable margin at 33-14.
The scoring pace slower for the Indians in the third period, though they still got scores from Gage Grooms, Knechtly on a put back and a pair of three-pointers, one from Colyn Sims and the other from Garrett Shiveley at the buzzer and after three it was Peebles on cruise control, up 43-18.
Coach Arey substituted freely as the final eight minutes passed and his bench provided the team’s final five points, a nice turn-around in the lane from Cauner Boatman and then a long three-pointer banked home by Hayden Countryman and the final horn sounded on a 51-24 Peebles victory.
The win improved the Tribe to 4-0 on the season, 2-0 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play. The Indians will be back in action on Friday, December 15 when they travel to Lynchburg for a SHAC showdown.
Peebles Scoring: Shiveley 11, Reed 5, Knechtly 10, Grooms 12, Browning 5, Sims 3, Boatman 2, Countryman 3
Ripley Scoring: Ty Fyffe 7, Bartley 6, Bl;ake Fyffe 5, Manning 2, Lacy 2, Thomas 1
