Turner, Wilson lead Barons past Celtics

SAINT GEORGE —Since dropping a game to Oak Hill last Friday — one of the top ranked teams in the nation — Blue Ridge looks to be playing some of its best all-around basketball.
After handily defeating St. Anne’s-Belfield on Thursday, the Barons picked up another win by dismantling Roanoke Catholic 75-51.
“It took us a minute to wake up,” said Blue Ridge coach Bill Ramsey.  “But once we woke up, we played well.  Our zone gave them a lot of trouble.  We stayed big and then I thought we closed out well to the 3-point line.  We didn’t give them open threes.”
The Barons got off to a rocky start by allowing the Celtics to jump out to a 6-0 run, but rallied after a quick time out to go on a 17-0 run of their own.
Up by 10 to begin the second quarter, Blue Ridge added five more points to their lead by dominating the glass and out-rebounding Roanoke by a 2-1 margin.
“That’s two games in a row that we’ve stepped up our rebounding,” Ramsey said. “We’ve tried to make that our identity for what our team’s about down the stretch.”
The Barons’ 15-point halftime lead quickly became 20 points in the third quarter, and with Darnell Turner and Denzel Wilson having their way with the Celtics defense, Blue Ridge never had to look over their shoulder.
Turner was the game’s leading scorer with 20 points, but couldn’t have piled them up without Wilson’s help.
“Me and Denzel always play well together,” Turner said. “We played a lot over the summer and when he first came here.”
The speedy point guard constantly found a way into the paint only to find Turner a few feet away for a handful of easy baskets.
“I was just trying to feed it to him early on because he had good positioning on their big man,” Wilson said. “You’ve just to give to him because you know he’s going to finish when he gets down there on the block.”
When the Celtics sagged back, Wilson took matters into his own hands shooting from the top of the key. The senior had 13 points to go with his 14 assists.
“He was just totally dominant,” Ramsey said of Wilson. “There was nothing they could do about him.”
Four different Barons finished with at least six rebounds. Martins Abele hauled in 10 rebounds coming off the bench. Scott Williams had seven, while Turner and Isaiah Battle each pulled down six.
“It’s a tough job but you’ve just got to get it done,” Turner said of his success in the post. “You’ve got to stay in there and keep banging, pulling down boards.”
Turner and Abele also combined for six blocks.
“They were just a little too strong inside,” said Celtics coach Joe Gaither. “You’ve got to play your ‘A’ game when you play with these guys, they’ve got a very good squad.”
George Brooks was the leading scorer for Roanoke with 14 points. Jamar Brown had 11 points and four blocks.
The Celtics offense struggle passing inside because the Barons played a 2-3 zone defense instead of their usual man-to-man.
“They went to a zone and shut off the lanes on us and make some good adjustments, and they’ve also got a lot of good weapons,” Gaither said.
Blue Ridge hosts Miller on Tuesday at 4 p.m.