MOREHEAD — Rowan County’s D.J. Townsend and Adam Wing are almost always smiling on the basketball court, but there is one thing that can make their grins a little bit wider: watching their teammate Jason Egan knock down 3-pointers.
Egan had Townsend and Wing smiling from ear-to-ear Friday night as he buried six 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 26 points as the Vikings cruised past East Carter, 68-42, at Warren H. Cooper Gymnasium.
“Adam and D.J. can hit shots, but they love it when Egan is on. They just know what kind of night it is going to be,” said Rowan County coach Shawn Thacker. “They absolutely love when he gets hot, because it makes their job so much easier.”
Townsend and Wing were not the only ones impressed by Egan’s play. Thacker also took note.
“Jason was monstrous,” he said. “He was knocking down threes. He also played through some things tonight. I thought his mental toughness was great tonight.”
After East Carter (9-14) hung tough in the first half, Rowan County (16-6) stretched things out in the second half with some red-hot three-point shooting. The Vikings were just 2 of 10 from behind the arc in the first half, but connected on 8 of 12 attempts in the second half.
While Egan was responsible for four of the second-half long balls, he was not the only one in on the act. Wing connected on three triples and Townsend tossed in one.
Thacker said the difference in percentage was due to the fact that the Vikings were playing more inside-out in the second half, leading to better opportunities.
“In the first half it was around the perimeter threes,” he said. “Shooting and making threes has to be part of our offense, but you also have to have a paint game. Whether that is getting turnovers and making layups, throwing it to the block and scoring, or getting putbacks. There are different ways of having a paint game in the second half.”
Most of Rowan County’s points in the paint came via Wing putbacks. The Evansville signee dominated the backboards on both ends, racking up 19 rebounds to go along with 22 points.
“He is the best rebounder that I have coached as a head coach,” Thacker said.
The trio of Egan, Wing and Townsend combined to score 64 of the Vikings’ points.
The Raiders were able to keep the game at their pace early as they led for most of the first half, but turnovers allowed the Vikings to get out and running. In all, East Carter coughed it up 18 times.
Connor Robinson and Dylan Genung led the Raiders in scoring with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Robinson made all three of East Carter’s 3-pointers.
East Carter coach Brandon Baker was unavailable for comment after the game.
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