RIPLEY - There are some things that are givens in life. For example, it would not be wise to tug on Superman's cape.
And, it's only a matter of time before Ripley senior Chase Fischer finds his shooting touch.
The Viking standout, who has accepted an invitation to participate in the 3-point shooting competition at the NCAA's National Championship game in March, misfired on six of his first seven shots, but finished with a game-high 54 points to lead Ripley to an 89-67 victory over Jackson County rival Ravenswood Friday night.
"There are games when he (Fischer) gets off to a slow start," Ripley head coach Craig Harmon explained. "But, he is such a great shooter that I know he will get on a streak at some point."
That point came in the second quarter as the Player of the Year candidate connected on 8-of-11 shots from the floor and 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to tally 22 of the Vikings' 28 points and help the hosts change a 15-15 tie after the game's first eight minutes into a 43-36 lead at the intermission.
Matching the Ripley standout almost point for point was Ravenswood junior Jeremy Lawrence as the Red Devil guard scored 20 of his team-high 22 points to keep the visitors close.
"We had to make some adjustments at halftime because of him (Lawrence)," continued Harmon. "We decided to play more man-to-man and trap more out of our press and that allowed us to get some easy buckets."
With the defense limiting its Jackson County rival to a mere 10 points in the third quarter, Ripley increased its lead to 18, 65-47, with eight minutes left to be played. Fischer continued to be the primary architect as the Class AAA first team performer hit on half of his 10 shots from the field and finished with 12 points in the quarter.
Ravenswood, which received 11 points from David Godwin and 10 from Ben Pannell, pulled to within 16, 67-51, on a Zack Martin jumper with 6:30 left in the game. But that would be as close as the Red Devils would get as Fischer would tally eight of the Vikings next 12 points as Ripley increased its lead to 22, 78-56, with four minutes left to play.
Ripley, which opens sectional play at home against Parkersburg South at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, received 19 points from Cody Miller to improve to 14-8 on the season and sweep the season series with Ravenswood.
The Red Devils return to the Ripley gym on Tuesday when they take on Ritchie County in the second game of the Region 1, Section 2 Class AA tournament at 7:30 p.m. Roane County takes on No. 1 seed Point Pleasant in the opener at 6 p.m.
