Rakease Passmore catches fire, leads Reynolds to triple digits in 103-83 win over Enka

ASHEVILLE — If Rakease Passmore ever got going Tuesday, it was clear Enka would be in trouble.

The Jets and Rockets had gone back-and-forth through a quiet opening eight minutes for Passmore. A fastbreak dunk from the star sophomore to close the first quarter tied served as a harbinger of what was to come.

Enka guard Jacob Tiller did his best to keep pace with the home team in the second period, but Passmore and the Rockets could not be stopped. An even first quarter turned to a 10-point game, then turned to a 20-point game and eventually finished as a 100-spot for the top team in The Mountain.

Reynolds made 21 3-pointers and got a team-high 29 points from Passmore in a 103-83 barnburner Tuesday, keeping distance from the rest of the conference and showing the firepower necessary for 4A success by overcoming Tiller's 32-point performance and second-place Enka.

"Passmore was an animal," Jets coach Brian Carver said. "He was unstoppable in that second quarter. ... That kid is unbelievable."

Passmore didn't get into the scoresheet until the final bucket of a first quarter that seemed high-octane but paled in comparison to what would follow. The shooting guard went on a personal 11-2 run early in the second quarter and scored or assisted on 15 of the Rockets' first 17 points of the period.

"You can't fold in big moments," Passmore said. "I knew there was going to be a crowd here, the student section over there talking to me. You gotta do what you gotta do."

Tiller answered with 3-pointers and dunks of his own, but Enka (16-2, 5-2 MAC) didn't have the firepower to keep up with the Rockets (14-4, 7-0), who are the only team the Jets have lost to this season.

A dunk over center Ian Clinkscales-King was the exclamation point of Passmore's 15-point second quarter, and Reynolds entered halftime leading 51-42.

"The majority of the second quarter and the third quarter, they hammered us," Carver said. "We knew we had our hands full playing on the road, but you just don't anticipate somebody knocking down 20 threes. ... If they make 20 threes, they're going to beat anybody they play."

On a night full of highlight offense, the Reynolds defense put the game away, getting stops that led to a barrage of transition buckets.

The Rockets hit eight triples in the third. DaShawn Stone (17 points), Jayden Harper (15 points), Declan Brown (11 points), Grant Clayton (eight points) and Cayden Mobley (eight points) all connected from distance in the quarter, along with Passmore.

In a flash, the visitors went from struggling to stay within single digits to trying to keep the deficit under 20.

"We just had to settle in," Reynolds coach Ryan Stevens said. "I loved the way we played in the third quarter defensively."

Tiller kept filling it up in the third quarter, scoring 10 points, but the effort was futile.

"Tiller made some special plays," Carver said. "Kept us with a heartbeat. Kept us with a pulse."

The 83-64 score after the third quarter meant the focus of the final eight minutes would be whether the Rockets could hit triple-digits. They did so with a 3-pointer from Ryan Wilson that circled the rim multiple times before falling and sending the Rockets bench and crowd into a frenzy.

Stevens might prefer winning games in the 70's to spending three quarters worrying he'll need to hit 90 to escape with a win.

But having that ability in their back pocket, with Passmore liable to take over a quarter at any time, is certainly better than the alternative, as they proved Tuesday.

"You take what you can get," Stevens said. "I didn't really like the fact we gave up 83 points, but they're a good team. They get out in transition; both teams get out in transition. You take what you can get."

BOX SCORE

Reynolds 21 30 32 20 — 103

Enka 21 21 22 19 — 83

Reynolds - Rakease Passmore (29 pts, 6 reb), Dashawn Stone (17 pts), Jayden Harper (15 pts), Declan Brown (11 pts)

Enka - Jacob Tiller (32 pts, 11 reb), Ian Clinkscales-King (13 pts, 7 reb), Jacob Adair (11 pts)

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Rakease Passmore leads Reynolds to triple digits in win over Enka