Patrick Henry utilized size, experience and defensive pressure to put four players in double-figures and hand Atlee a season opening loss 81-54 on Thursday night in Ashland.

  First year PH head coach Randy Anderson appears to have infused the Patriots with his high key personality and shook off a slow start to pressure Atlee into turnovers and bad shots.

  The Patriots (1-1) came into the contest holding the upper hand in height and court time but early on it looked as if Atlee (0-1) was poised to pull off the upset. The Raiders gave up size at every position and lacking team practice time due to the extended football season.  They were also short-handed due to a hand injury to starting guard Ruben Rucker. But despite all the obstacles, Atlee held a 7-2 lead over three minutes into the contest and looked to be in control as the smaller Raiders were out-rebounding the much bigger Patriot team.

  Patrick Henry senior guard Logan Dandridge said his taller teammates were repeatedly being caught out of position. “Our big men need to do a better job of getting in front on defense,” he said. “We have size that’s way bigger than them. We just needed them to put bodies on their bigs and we got the rebounds a lot better.”

  His coach agreed. “It looked like they had a lot of guards in,” Anderson said. “Pretty much the whole five could play guard positions. We had some bigs in and that causes a little mismatch.”

  With the Raiders holding the upper hand early Anderson called a timeout to refocus his team. “I told them if we don’t do anything else right we’ve got to play defense,” he said. “Whenever the offense is going slow, let the offense create the defense.”

  Coming out of the break Patrick Henry came to life, pressuring Atlee into turnovers which created a 20-5 run for the Patriots to seize control of the contest.

  “Once we got going and got that active hands out and starting using our length to our advantage and hustle, everything came to another level,” Anderson said. “That’s what we’re coming out to do. We’re going to come out aggressive and try to get a lot of turnovers and steals.”

  Kahlil Mock (11 points, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists) and Dandridge (12 points) led the way early. The two scored the first seven PH points of the game to tie the contest a little over a minute out of the timeout.

  DeeJay Jackson then gave the Patriots the lead 9-7 on an eight foot jumper and PH never trailed again.

  A jumper from Atlee’s Brian Miller (18 points) retied the contest but PH’s A.J. Jackson (10 points) scored four straight points. 

  Miller gave the Raiders a highlight moment when he heaved in a three at the buzzer to pull the Raiders within one, 13-12 at the end of the first.

  PH turned up the defensive pressure another notch in the second quarter and Raymon Minor (18 points) began to find his shooting touch.

  “He started off a little slow this season but he kind of found his rhythm,” Anderson said.

  Minor opened the second fouled on a dunk for a three point play. Minor and Sevon Morris then hit back to back three pointers followed by jumpers from Minor and Mock to cap a 13-0 run and give the home team a 26-12 lead a minute and a half into the second.

  Morris finished the night by connecting on three 3-pointers and added 11 points for the Patriots.

  Jacob Hurd answered with a Raider three and Quincy Randolph connected on a pair of free throws to momentarily stop the run, but Dandridge drilled PH’s a three then scored on a layup for a 31-17 lead with two minutes left in the half.

  Anderson feels that Logan and twin brother Tyler Dandridge, who transferred from Lee-Davis, have made a smooth transition onto the Patriots’ squad.

  “From day one they came in they understood who we had returning and they wanted to do was come in and work hard and just fit in wherever they could fit in,” Anderson said.

  Coming out of the locker room, PH’s defense limited Atlee to four points in the first five minutes of the third. Meanwhile Minor and the Jacksons continued to score to give the Patriots a 63-37 lead heading into the final period.

  Minor scored six of Patrick Henry’s first eight points in the fourth for a 71-42 lead and Anderson started substituting.

  In a substitute roll, William Hollman (7 points) extended the Patriots lead to 79-46 by scoring five straight points after entering the game.

  For the Patriots, it was good to get on the winning path after falling to Deep Run by 15 in their season opener two days earlier.

  “After we got our defense straight, it was a little hard to adjust to the tempo but it was a different game from last week,” Dandridge said. “We picked up pretty well in the second half.”

  Along with Miller, guard Kevin Drayton carried Atlee on offense by driving to the basket to score 13 points. Joe Pulisic provided body-sacrificing defense for the Raiders but was held scoreless.

  On Friday night, Atlee fell to 0-2 with a 77-38 home loss to Deep Run. The Raiders played at Clover Hill on Monday night then host Colonial Heights and Henrico in Thursday, Friday games.

  Patrick Henry hosts John Marshall on Tuesday then plays at Glen Allen and Maggie Walker in Wednesday-Friday matchups.

PATRICK HENRY 81, ATLEE 54
ATLEE (0-1) — Gray 0, Bazemore 2, Randolph 2, Miller 18, Drayton 13, Heerman 4, Ratchford 4, Hurd 5, Winters 6.
Totals 16 20-27 54.
PATRICK HENRY (1-1) — Minor 18, Mock 11, L. Dandridge 12, Holman 7, Toro 2, T. Dandridge 2, Jones 2, A.J. Jackson 10, Morris 11, Wiltshire 2, D.J. Jackson 4. Totals 33 10-18 81.
Atlee ....................12 13 12 16 — 54
Patrick Henry….. 13 25 25 18 — 81
3-point goals — A: Miller, Hurd; PH: Morris 3, Minor, L. Dandridge.
Highlights — PH: Kahlil Mock 8 rebounds,3 steals, 3 assists.

DEEP RUN 77, ATLEE 38
DEEP RUN (2-0) — Hull 23, Branin 5, Damato 0, Butz 0, Puckett 8, Reynolds 4, Porter 2, Dyer 21, Kendall 0, Martin 6, Lowe 2, Quinn 5, Babcock 1. Totals 27 20-28 77.
ATLEE (0-2) — Pulisic 5, Gray 2, Bazemore 1, Randolph 4, Winters 3, Miller 0, Drayton 15, Ratchford 0, Heerman 0, Hurd 8. Totals 9 17-26
38.
Deep Run…......... 16 24 21 16 — 77
Atlee…..................  7 14 10   7 — 38
3-point goals — DR: Hull 2, Martin; A: Pulisic, Randolph, Winter.