Wildcats Claw Red Raiders, 66-39

The Seymour boys basketball team raised its record to 12 – 7 Friday with a 66 – 39 win at home over the struggling Derby Red Raiders.

Seymour raised its record to 12 – 7. Derby fell to 1 – 18.

Despite the lopsided score, Derby managed to hang tough for a few quarters.

There’s no easy win in the NVL,” Wildcats coach Joe Carrafiello said. I don’t care what Derby’s record is, they play hard and it’s the second time they played us hard.”

Rich Adeniyi’s (12 points, 22 rebounds, two assists, one steal) dominance on the glass — coupled with an assault of three-point shots by Kyle Moran — was the difference for the Wildcats.

I have thing when I see the ball go high, it inspires me to jump,” Adeniyi said. I like the high ball.”

He’s a beast,” Seymour co-captain Chris Sheppard (11 points, 10 rebounds, one assist) said of Adeniyi.

Adeniyi converted three offensive rebounds into baskets in the first half and finished the game with five putbacks off the offensive glass.

I was able to get there before anyone else. Being a half foot taller than everyone, helped,” said the six-foot-four Adeniyi.

Derby started to chip away at Seymour’s lead in the third quarter to five, 30 – 25, thanks to solid play by sophomore Ray Krieger (six points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals, one forced turnover) and senior co-captain DeSean McBride (six points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals).

However, Seymour scored the last six points of the third quarter to lead 41 – 29. They expanded the lead to 50 – 29 with 5:32 left in the fame.

Seymour is a very good team and they are well-coached,” Red Raiders coach Dave Scrivens said. We had a game plan to limit their rebounds but their big kid [Adeniyi] hurt us on the glass. In the first half, we got decent looks at the basket. We made adjustments in the third quarter and were able to get inside their zone.”

Sheppard quietly grabbed rebounds in the second half to propel the Wildcats.

I tried my hardest. It was senior night and played with high intensity,” Sheppard said.

Mike Rubin PhotographySeymour’s Moran (27 points, three rebounds, one steal, one forced turnover) finished the game with four 3‑pointers and had three treys in the second half, two in the fourth quarter. 

Both fourth quarter trifectas came off of kickout passes from Adeniyi.

We had to keep shooting and hope they’d fall,” Moran said. I had to wait for my shots to fall and when I got open looks, they were falling.”

They really hurt us on the boards in the fourth quarter and their kickouts for 3‑pointers hurt us,” Scrivens said.

Seniors Tyler Hardman (two points, one rebound, one steal, one charge drawn) and Dan Rosado (one point) and sophomore Mike Musial (one rebound) also contributed for Seymour. 

For Derby, seniors Nick Estwan (two points) and Ronte Byrd (two points, one steal) and sophomores Chris Estwan (two points, one assist, one steal) and Tim Adanti (four points, two rebounds, one blocked shot) contributed.

Click here for more game photos.

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