Thomas Barnhart provided a huge first half boost for the West Union Dragons as they defeated the Ripley Blue Jays 56-52. Barnhart scored 12 for the winners, 8 of those in the second quarter. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
Four in double figures lead West Union
West Union’s Andrew Daley slices between a pair of Ripley defenders on his way to the rim in action from last Friday night’s SHAC battle. Daley did his damage away from the bucket, nailing a trio of three-pointers and scoring 10 points in the Dragons’ first win of the season. (Photo by Mark Carpenter)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After suffering a pair of double-digit losses to open their 2025-26 campaign, Coach Adam Barr and his West Union Dragons rebounded to post their first “W” on December 12, picking up a home win and a Southern Hills Athletic Conference win all in one evening.
The Dragons’ victims were the winless Ripley Blue Jays, who put up a good fight and rallied late to put a scare in the home team, but in the end, four players in double figures was enough for West Union to hang on for a 56-52 victory.
“It’s definitely a lot better feeling in the locker room when you win,” Coach Barr said in his postgame radio spot with 99.5 The Edge. “I want Coach (Jeremy)Bennington to win every night except the two games with us. We got in foul trouble playing a zone tonight because Ripley is so big so we had to make some adjustments. We struggled offensively tonight but getting out in transition helped us with that.”
“We really have to work on clock management, the final two minutes were way too chaotic. We work on that in practice but it is a lot different in the pressure of a game.”
The game was tight early, with Ripley taking an early 5-3 lead on a bucket by Gavin Benjamin. West Union answered with a three-pointer from Billy Flaugher, only to see the Jays answer that with a three of their own, from Nathan Lacy. The Dragons tied the game at 8 on a basket by Logan Caldwell, but the visitors closed the first period on a 7-0 run, getting a triple in the final seconds from Blake Fyffe to go up 15-8 after one.
The second quarter turned into a long distance artillery barrage as the two teams combined to drain six three-point goals. The first of those went to West Union’s Thomas Barnhart and was the beginning of a huge 15-2 Dragons run that gave them the lead for good. Included in that big run was another Barnhart trey, a steal and score from Tegan Knox, and three-balls from Caldwell and Andrew Daley. the run put the Dragons up 26-23 and they held on to that advantage, leading 30-25 at the halftime break.
As the second half began, the Dragons continued their dominant play, opening with a 12-0 run, fueled by three-pointers from Daley and Flaugher, to extend the margin out to 42-25. Ripley’s first points of the second half came at the 4:35 mark of the third quarter on a Brooklyn Jordan three-point goal, but the Blue Jays still didn’t make much of a dent in the West Union lead, which stood at 47-35 at the end of the third after Ripley’s Benjamin nailed a trey at the buzzer.
That Benjamin bomb seemed to light a spark under the visitors as they began the final quarter with a 7-0 spurt while holding the Dragons scoreless for nearly five minutes. The Dragons broke the ice with 3:25 to play on a basket from Brylee Mills and a later three-ball from Daley made ti 52-44 with 2:06 remaining.
The Blue Jays rallied while the Dragons struggled from the free throw line and pulled within 52-47 on a Kyler Williams free throw. West Union got a single free toss from Tyren Pennington and two from Caldwell to pretty much put things in the bad, a 55-47 lead with just 19.6 seconds left. The Jays got a long three-pointer at the final buzzer from Lacy but it was not enough to stop the Dragons from celebrating their first win by the final count of 56-52.
In the win, the Dragons placed a quartet of players in double figures, led by 13 points from senior Billy Flaugher. Thomas Barnhart and Logan Caldwell each scored 11 , with Andrew Daley adding 10. On their home floor, West Union drilled a total of nine three-point shots.
“We got down in the first two games of the season and kind of rolled over and gave up,” said Coach Barr. “Tonight we got down by like 10 points and we didn’t quit and we fought back. That’s what I am most proud of tonight.”
Ripley’s Blake Fyffe led all scorers with 19 points, joined in double figures by Gavin Benjamin with 11. The Jays hit seven three-pointers in the loss.
After garnering their first win, the Dragons faced a pair of tough road conference challenges this wee, beginning with a road trip to Fayetteville on Tuesday, December 16. On Friday, December 19, West Union will also be on the bus, this time to face the Eastern Brown Warriors.
Box Score
Ripley
15 10 10 17 —52
West Union
8 22 17 9 —56
Ripley (52): Fyffe 6 3-5 19, Williams 0 3-4 3, Lacy 2 2-2 7, Young 2 0-0 4, Benjamin 5 0-2 11, Jordan 2 0-0 5, Team 17 8-13 52.
W. Union (56): Pennington 0 1-2 1, Daley 3 1-4 10, Barnhart 4 1-2 11, Knox 2 0-2 4, Flaugher 5 0-0 13, Mills 2 2-4 6, Caldwell 4 2-5 11, Team 20 7-19 56.
Three-Point Goals:
Ripley (7)- Fyffe 4, Lacy 1, Benjamin 1, Jordan 1
W. Union (9)- Caldwell 1, Flaugher 3, Barnhart 2, Daley 3
