By Mike Marsee

Contributing Writer

The Boyle County boys used quite a balancing act to beat Danville.

Balanced scoring was an asset for the Rebels on Saturday, but there was balance in other areas as well as they defeated the Admirals 60-40.

Boyle’s rebounds, assists and even steals were spread evenly among several players as it scored its first 45th District victory of the season.

Coach Dennie Webb said he’s hoping it’s a good indicator for a Boyle team that lost seven of its first eight games and has been up and down ever since.

“We’re coming around. We’ve still got some things we’ve got to work on, but we’re getting there,” Webb said. “This is the right direction. We’ve just got to keep building on it.”

Each of the five starters scored between nine and 13 points for visiting Boyle (6-11, 0-2 district), and the Rebels had assists on 12 of their 25 field goals.

“We’re two points short of having five guys in double figures, which I like,” Webb said. “And sharing the ball is one thing we really harp on, making that extra pass and being happy when each other does well. The extra assist, the extra pass, the drive-and-kicks, that’s at the heart of what we’re trying to do offensively.”

Montavin Quisenberry led Boyle with 13 points, followed closely by Demauriah Brown and Guy Turner with 10 each and Avery Bodner and Seneca Driver with nine each.

Quisenberry and Turner had three assists each and five other players had assists. Six players had at least three rebounds each, led by Driver with six, and six players had steals, led by Bodner and Driver with three each.

The Rebels shot 56 percent from the field in the first half, when they opened a 24-11 lead, and 48 percent overall as they notched their seventh consecutive victory over the past three seasons in the crosstown series.

They led 36-18 early in the second half, and Danville never got the margin below 11 points after that and trailed by as many as 26 in the fourth quarter.

It became another teaching opportunity for Danville coach Tryston Ford, who said inconsistent play and inconsistent work in practice took the Admirals out of the game.

“I’m just trying to teach them how we can’t flip the switch on and off,” Ford said. “We have some days when we’re motivated and some days where we lack motivation, so I’m just trying to consistently stay on them about having that same mindset, that approach in practice.”

The 40 points scored by Danville was the second-lowest total Boyle has allowed this season, and Webb said he was pleased with the Rebels’ defense

“Our goal was to keep them out of the lane,” he said. “They like to get downhill … so we were trying to make sure that we cut off driving lanes as much as possible, and I thought we did a pretty decent job of that.”

Trevarion Paige led Danville (3-13, 1-2) with 12 points, eight rebounds and three assists. DyiRon Moody added eight points, and Braidin Baughman and Henry Tubb had five rebounds each.

The Admirals shot 31 percent from the field but ourebounded the Rebels 38-33 and had 20 offensive boards.

“We’re athletic, and we struggled to shoot the ball. So if we’re going to shoot and we know there’s a good chance that it might not go in, we’re more athletic than most teams so we should be able to get the rebounds,” Ford said. “We’ve been working on that a lot, so that’s a good thing, (but) I would prefer that the shots go in.”