OAK HILL — Rondale Watson wanted to make a statement in his return to the Oak Hill lineup.

He delivered emphatically.

The sophomore poured in 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Oak Hill (13-5) shrugged off a slow start and rolled to a 59-40 win over visiting Independence Friday night at the Lilly Center.

“I did want to make a statement that I was back,” said Watson, who suffered a leg injury against Independence in the Big Atlantic Classic consolation game nine days earlier. “I had some doubt after the incident happened. I’m just glad to be back.”

And his teammates are glad to have him back.

“I’m glad he’s back,” fellow sophomore Jalen Jones said. “It takes a lot of pressure off me and on all the guys. I don’t care if he scores 34 and I score two, as long as the team is winning. That’s the main thing.”

“Rondale practiced Wednesday and he was a little tentative,” Oak Hill coach Fred Ferri said. “But Thursday he went hard and he said he didn’t have any pain. He played well. Our plan was to run him in and out and I told (assistant) coach (Benitez) Jackson to make sure we tried to do that. We asked him how he was at every break and he said he was fine.”

He was better than that in the game.

After a slow start — Independence (6-11) led 8-0 out of the gate — Watson and the Devils heated up. Oak Hill went on a 19-3 run — 13 points by Watson — to take control.

But foul trouble forced Oak Hill into a second quarter zone and Independence cut the deficit to 28-25 at the break.

“We were trying to save our fouls and we went to a zone, and we don’t play zone very well,” Ferri said. “But it got us through the second quarter.

“We just told them at the half we were going back to man (defense) and let’s make a run.”

That they did.

Up 31-27, Oak Hill ran off 11 straight points, as all five starters scored, and Oak Hill took control.

“I think we just ran out of gas,” Independence coach Chad Perkins said. “We’ve played Oak Hill, Tug Valley, Oak Hill again, Westside and Oak Hill tonight. That’s a murderer’s row. We hit the wall. And they took advantage of it, like good teams do.”

Despite an obvious height disadvantage, Oak Hill owned the glass, including 23 offensive rebounds.

“We aren’t big but our kids aren’t skinny, they’re pretty athletic and we do a good job getting position,” Ferri said. “We teach them to go after the ball and they did that.”

“We had several rebounds, and they would knock them out,” Perkins said. “We did have a size advantage but they have a lot of speed and quickness and they did a good job fighting on the glass. (Oak Hill) is just a good team.”

Kadrin Goodman had nine points and six rebounds for the Red Devils and Jones had eight points, five rebounds, four steals and four assists.

Shaun Pack led the Patriots with 13 points and D.J. Black had eight points and four rebounds.

No. 7 Oak Hill is scheduled to play No. 3 Wyoming East today, while Independence is scheduled to visit Greater Beckley today, weather permitting.

— E-mail: demorrison@register-herald.com



Oak Hill 59, Independence 40

Independence (6-11)

Jordan Bryant 0 0-0 0, Jaquai Multunas 2 1-3 5, Tyler McKinney 1 1-1 3, Shaun Pack 4 5-5 13, Jhalen Belcher 0 0-0 0, Shane Greco 2 1-2 5, Caleb Bolen 2 0-0 6, D.J. Black 3 2-3 8. Totals: 14 10-14 40.

Oak Hill (13-5)

Le-Von Elam 2 2-5 7, Jalen Jones 3 1-2 8, Rondale Watson 11 3-4 27, Joey Re 2 2-4 6, Kadrin Goodman 3 3-5 9, Ervin Fruit 0 0-0 0, Marc Logan 0 0-1 0, Deon Marion 1 0-0 2, Michael Nibert 0 0-0 0, Caleb Kees 0 0-0 0, Simeon Kees 0 0-0 0, Kyalo Bradford 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 11-21 59.

I    11    14    6    9    —    40

OH    15    13    19    12    —    59

Three-point goals — I: 2 (Bolen 2); OH: 4 (Elam, Jones, Watson 2). Fouled out — none.