Lions 6-1 in district play

By JUSTIN BEASLEY, Courier Sports Writer
Cannon County defeated DeKalb 77-57 at home Tuesday night behind 31 points from Josh Ruehlen.

"Our big fear was after Friday night (with) a little let down situation, to our guys credit that wasn't an issue," head coach Matt Rigsby said.

Following an Issac Beck 3-pointer, the Lions lead was down to three points with 52 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

But Cannon County (17-5, 6-1) would then open up a 17-2 run to propel its lead to 37-19, the largest lead of the first half.

Although Ruehlen's 11 points sparked the Cannon County attack in the second stanza, it was the defense from Austin Martin that turned the momentum towards the Lions.

"Austin doesn't sometimes get enough credit in the scorebook for what he does. He cleans a lot of stuff for us defensively," Rigsby said of his center that finished with eight points.

"We just got out to a hot start," Ruehlen said. "We made some bad turnovers in transition, but we hit some shots early and got a big lead and the let our defense do the rest."

The Lions held onto a comfortable margin for the entire second half, leading by as much as 26 following an A.J. Daniel 3-pointer with 2:22 remaining.

"We got out to hot starts against Upperman and Livingston and let them back in the game," Ruehlen said. "Tonight we were a little bit better and didn't turn it over as much and kept our lead."
Ruehlen finished 8-of-8 from the free throw line.

DeKalb County
17 10 11 19 57
Cannon County
24 19 14 20 77
DeKalb County: Issac Beck 14, Aaron Patterson 13, Justin Bone 25, Aaron Haggard 3, Gentry Harpole 2.
Cannon County: Josh Ruehlen 31, Jacob Nave 12, Marshall McReynolds 2, Austin Martin 8, A.J. Daniel 7, Briar Jakes 5, Austin Brock 3, Garrett McReynolds 4, Austin Duggin 3, Anton Knox 2.