Staff report

MOUNT PLEASANT — Injured during the football season, senior Jacob Ritchie finally returned to action for South Rowan’s boys basketball team on Tuesday.

Ritchie scored 11 points for the Raiders (0-9) in a 67-37 non-conference loss at Mount Pleasant.

“Ritchie brings a lot,” South head coach Daniel Blevins said. “Not just some scoring, but leadership and lot of understanding of the game. His experience will help us make adjustments on the floor instead of having to take a timeout.”

Sophomore Aaron Jones had his best game with 10 points. Freshman Jaydon Moore got steals and transition buckets in the fourth quarter and scored six.

While it was a 30-point loss for South, 67-37 sounded and felt better than such recent scores as 57-19, 71-12 and 89-22.

“We made some personnel changes and almost had to go back to restart mode for a few games,” Blevins said. “But we made some improvement tonight. We got better.”

South got down 15-4 after a quarter, but picked up the offense enough in the second quarter to trail 36-17 at halftime.

“We started slow but picked up more confidence as the game went on,” Blevins said. “Our young guys are gaining some maturity.”

Mount Pleasant (8-2) has an experienced team and is expected to have a big season.

“They can really shoot the ball,” Blevins said.

South                       4     14    4   15 — 37

Mt. Pleasant         15      21   16   15  — 67

SOUTH — Ritchie 11, Jones 10, Moore 6, Gould 4, McGuire 2, Jackson 2, Pozyck 2.