Burris, Pacers shoot past Barons

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Junior Paul Burris stroked a three-pointer from the left corner in the first quarter to give the Delaware Hayes boys basketball team an early lead.

A couple of teammates came up to congratulate him after the shot and it sparked something.

Burris buried three more in the frame, including a pair to highlight a 10-0 run – the latter of which gave the Delaware Hayes boys basketball team the lead for good.

“I was feeding off my teammates,” Burris said. “That first basket – I remember I had three people come up to me and give me handshakes and stuff like that and I just fed off their energy and it paid off.”

Burris scored 25 of his team-high 30 points in the first half with 18 of them coming from behind the arc and the Pacers rolled to an 80-61 win in front of a sold-out crowd Friday at rival Buckeye Valley.

“He plays his best basketball when he’s not thinking a whole lot,” Hayes coach Jordan Blackburn said. “When he’s open – we want him to shoot and we don’t need to make it any more complicated than that.”

Terin Kinsway scored nine of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, Nate Griggs added 14 points and Jwan Lyles chipped in nine to lead the Pacers (1-0), who are 6-0 against BV since the rivalry resumed in the 2013-14 season.

“In the second half – they tried to take (Burris) away,” Blackburn said. “So, we started using him as a screener and it opened things up for Nate and Terin. It seemed like their plan coming in was to try to take away Nate and Terin and that opened things up for Paul and Jwan.”

Hayes seemed to struggle at times to find points last year. That doesn’t appear to be a problem after putting up 49 points in the first half alone.

“It’s a nice problem to have when you have more than two guys that can score the ball,” Blackburn said. “I think that’s one of the biggest differences between last year to this year. Part of that is having juniors and seniors instead of freshmen and sophomores.”

Dylan Herbert scored a game-high 35 points for the Barons (0-1) and knocked down seven three-pointers along the way.

“We’ve gotta find more guys that can contribute offensively … because that’s going to be an issue if we only have one or two guys that can score,” BV coach Andy Gast said. “I think we have a good group of kids. We’re just a little inexperienced in certain situations. But we’ll keep getting better.”

BV had three players that had never played a minute of varsity see extended minutes.

Freshman Troy Scowden scored seven of his nine points in the first quarter. He also pulled down five rebounds had blocked three shots.

“We still have a lot of young players,” Gast said. “It’s a long season. I told our kids that it’s a long season. We’re disappointed we lost, but it’s one game and we’ve got a really big game on Tuesday.”

Burris recalled his first game against BV as a freshman.

“The game really slowed down,” Burris said. “I remember my first game here – I airballed my first shot and missed my next two and I hit a three later in the game. (Tonight), everything was slowed down.”

Next up, BV continues its non-league slate against London at home Tuesday night. Hayes is off until Friday night when it opens OCC-Cardinal play at Hilliard Darby. Both are scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Delaware Hayes’ Paul Burris shoots (21) over Buckeye Valley’s Troy Scowden during the first half of Friday’s season opener at BV.
https://www.delgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/2018/11/web1_burrisshoots.jpgDelaware Hayes’ Paul Burris shoots (21) over Buckeye Valley’s Troy Scowden during the first half of Friday’s season opener at BV. Ben Stroup | Gazette

By Michael Rich

For the Gazette

Follow Michael Rich on Twitter @mrichnotwealthy or contact him at [email protected].

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