Highland County Public Schools

COVINGTON — Cole Armstrong will lean heavily on a trio of seniors this winter.

One game in, the first-year Highland head basketball coach was well supported.

Zach Armstrong, Patton Hull and Elijah Good combined for 64 points and the Rams used a 16-0 run that bridged the first and second quarters to build a lead, winning a 74-43 season-opening decision at Boys Home.

Tied at 9-all late in the opening period, the Rams turned up the pressure.

Armstrong scored 10 of his team-high 24 points in the stretch and the visitors used defense to create offense.

“It was the first game of the year, we came out a little sluggish,” said Armstrong, the coach’s son. “We called that first time out and we made an effort to pick it up on defense, picking up full court and putting more pressure on the ball. That led to me getting to the basket more. We were getting steals and stuff.”

Armstrong was 7-for-11 at the free throw line, handed out eight assists and grabbed six rebounds; Hull scored 23 points to go with six rebounds and seven steals, while Good combined 17 points with nine boards.

Highland was 29-of-50 — 58 percent — from the floor and forced 26 Boys Home turnovers.

“I felt like we were a little hesitant at first on defense and offense — first-game jitters, I guess,” Coach Armstrong said. “But the guys turned it on, got our defense going, got a lot of steals and everybody started playing like I felt they should.”

Logan Large kept the Bears within reach and his back-to-back threes and a lay-up from Nazayah Harmond cut Highland’s 36-20 halftime lead to 11 with just over four minutes left in the third.

But the Rams countered with 12 straight in a three-minute stretch to all but seal the win.

Large buried seven of his 14 three-point attempts on the night, many coming from way behind the line, and put up a game-high 27 points for the Bears.

Rylan Deaton had eight rebounds for Boys Home and Deleon Lee hauled in seven.

“We played good, but we have to work on our discipline,” said Bears coach Aaron Smith. “One thing I can say, we take these as learning lessons. It’s going to only get better.

We love playing Highland. We’ve been playing them for years. They got us tonight. We’ll take this, go to practice tomorrow — I always say, it’s on to the next one.”

The next one for Boys Home (0-2) was a home matchup against Bath County on Wednesday. The Bears will compete in a tournament in Staunton at Grace Christian School on Friday and Saturday.

Highland (1-0) plays at Pocahontas County, W.Va. on Tuesday.

Monday’s boxscore

• Highland (74): Zach Armstrong 24, Patton Hull 23, Elijah Good 17, Levi Warner 4, Preston Jaccard 4, Chase Lupo 2, Owen Honaker 0, Matthew Wigal 0, Karl Sax 0

• Boys Home (43): Logan Large 27, Sedekee Koroma 0, Joewel Newton 2, Taylor Vernon 0, Kemon Lewis 0, Nazayah Harmond 4, Ryan Lanz 0, Giovanni Lewis 0, Deleon Lee 4, Rylan Deaton 6, Terrance Bowers 0

• Halftime: Highland 36, Boys Home 20

• 3-point goals: Highland 4 (Hull 2, Armstrong 1, Jaccard 1); Boys Home 7 (Large 7)