Lions cruise past R.L. Turner for home win
January 6, 2010

By STEVE SHWARTS
Herald-Banner Staff

GREENVILLE -- The Greenville Lions jumped out to a 21-0 lead and then cruised to an 84-59 district basketball victory over R.L. Turner on Tuesday night in the Lions Den.

Devonte Green, Dijoun Sheppard and N.J. Mason all hit buckets during the early scoring blitz for the Lions.

R.L. Turner finally broke through for its first points with 3:13 left in the first quarter.

Green finished the game with a game-high 22 points for the Lions, hitting four 3-pointers.

Greenville’s Byron Mack pumped in 12 points.

Travis Cleghorn led R.L. Turner with 17 points. David Hernandez also fired in 14 points for R.L. Turner.

Greenville goes to 9-12 on the season and 2-1 in district play, while R.L. Turner falls to 6-13 and 0-3.

The visitors from Carrollton outscored Greenville 20-15 in the second quarter but Greenville led 46-26 at halftime.

Then in the third quarter Greenville outscored Turner 22-15 to put the game on ice.

“Our kids picked up their intensity on defense, which creates offensive opportunities,” said Greenville coach Earl Claiborne. “We did a good job of finishing tonight.”

The shot of the night came with one second left before halftime, when R.L.Turner’s Larence Davis made a length-of-the court shot. Davis finished with nine points.

Greenville will return to district action at home on Friday against J.J. Pearce.

Varsity boys

R.L. Turner 6 20 15 18 --59

Greenville 31 15 22 16 --84

RLT: Travis Cleghorn 17, David Hernandez 14, Larence Davis 9, Lucas Ammann 8, Chris Holmes 5, Jaime Rangel 2, Bernard Philips 2, Oscar Espino 2.

G: Devonte Green 22, Byron Mack 12, Ladarrain Green 8, Manon Steward 8, Cal Crabtree 7, Blake Taylor 7, Alton Dennis 7, Dominique Mitchell 5, Dijuon Sheppard 5, N.J. Mason 3.

Records: RLT 6-13, 0-3; G 9-12, 2-1.

Next game: J.J. Pearce at Greenville, 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Junior varsity boys

R.L. Turner 18 11 16 22 --67

Greenville 21 12 20 10 --63

RLT: Rodriquez 17, Martinez 14.

G: Sawyer Harmon 17, Ladarian Davis 15, Tristan Farley 10.

Next game: J.J. Pearce at Greenville, 6 p.m. Friday.