By Thomas Sellers Jr.
TRA’s Dillon Munn goes for the steal during third quarter action against Macon Road.
Another classic sports cliché is “A win is a a win.” Last Thursday night, Mike Moore walked off the Tipton-Rosemark Academy Gymnasium court breathing a sigh of relief to win his debut as head coach of the Rebels 51-44 over the Macon Road Kingsmen. The victory was an award of endurance entering the contest without starting point guard Carter Weakley, a totally new lineup and facing an opponent with a 6’6 Josh Raggio. “Carter is out,” Moore noted. “Once we get him back things will be a little bit different at the point. Without your point guard things don’t run as well. Hopefully when we get him back it will make a big difference.” TRA Rebel guard Dillon Munn had the honors of running point. Adjusting to the position on the fly, Munn and his teammates missed long distance shots and even layups. Rebel sharp shooter Sheldon Spence was having an untypical shooting night missing several three-pointers throughout the first half. Macon Road led 5-4 after the first quarter with TRA’s Jake Massey scoring both baskets for the Rebels. “Spence missed, I don’t know how many shots,” Moore said. “But when he’s on the game won’t be like this was.” The scoring picked up in the second quarter with Macon Road maintaining a narrow advantage at 18-17. Munn came out the locker room hot with a drive to the rim and a pair of triples to give TRA a 25-20 lead. Later in the third quarter Spence made a layup to make the tally 30-23 in favor of TRA. Macon Road closed out the third quarter 12-3 run to regain the lead entering the fourth quarter. When Kingmen guard Jeremy Alpizar hit a three-pointer, Macon Road was ahead 33-32. Raggio made a shot in the post an Macon Road led 35-33 entering the fourth quarter. TRA adjusted in the fourth quarter starting with a Parker Heavener three-pointer to snatch back the advantage at 36-35. During one stretch in the fourth quarter Munn scored 6 points to make the score 42-39 in favor of TRA. The final moments the Rebels got points from Massey, Heavener and Munn to secure the win. Although Moore was happy with the victory, the veteran coach left the floor with a checklist of things to improve on.
“We need to work on rebounding and the press,” he concluded. “We allowed people to dribble where they wanted to go instead of where we wanted them to go. We have to work on those types of things.”
