It was the start that Danville (11-8) had been looking for all year. The Ads connected on 10 of 19 shots from the field - including five of eight from 3-point range - in the first quarter and placed six different players in the scoring column during the period.
"That's the best we have started a game all year," Danville assistant coach Aaron Etherington said. "We used our break to get easy baskets and executed our half-court offense."
Technical fouls for Casey
The game began with a technical foul called on Casey during the pregame - one of three the Rebels had during the night - and things didn't get any better the rest of the quarter.
The Rebels' only basket in the first 4 minutes was a baseline jumper from Jordan Spangoletti, and by that time Danville, which hit six of its first 11 shots, had a 19-2 advantage.
The Admirals continued to shoot well and led 44-27 at the half.
"We talked at the half about needing a shot on every possession during the second half, and I thought we were able to do that," Carman said. "We attacked the rim better and if the shot wasn't there, we were able to kick it back out for good looks at the basket. That's why we played better in the second half."
Etherington said that was one thing he knew Casey wouldn't do.
"That's one of the things we knew about Casey," he said. "They don't quit no matter how far behind they get. We challenged the kids at halftime about coming out with the same aggressive mentality. We still attacked the basket but Casey kept playing hard."
Down 52-31, Casey (7-16) got 11 points in just over a minute from reserve Tyler Salyers and trimmed Danville's lead to 60-48 entering the fourth quarter.
"Tyler kind of turned it on in the second half," Carman said. "We needed him to because Elliot (Cannon) had a hard time putting the ball in the basket tonight."
Back-to-back treys from Kyle Jeffries and a Salyers putback trimmed the lead to 74-68 with a minute to play, but the Rebels could get no closer.
Danville shot 44 percent (31-for-71) from the field, while Casey shot 41 percent (25-for-61). The Admirals won the rebounding battle 78-72, but committed 22 turnovers compared to 17 for the Rebels.
* * *
Casey County . . . . 12 - 27 - 48 - 72
Danville . . . . . . . . .27 - 44 - 60 - 78
CASEY (7-16) - Kyle Jeffries 16, Jordan Spangoletti 16, Tyler Salyers 13, Tyler Johnson 11, Elliot Cannon 8, Zach Snow 4, Spencer Wright 4.
DANVILLE (11-8) - Jacody Taylor 20, Tevin Raines 15, Duran Elmore 14, Kruz Warner 10, Miles Kingsley 10, Cameron Burgess 4, Will Dunn 3, Jordan Goodman 2.
