Rykeem Ashley and Edmund Dantes inject life into Demons in win over Houston County

Warner Robins overcame a cold streak to sweep county rival Houston County in the season series, 52-36.

They outscored the Bears 31-11 in the second half but a 24-4 run is what won them the game. The simple observation is that they simply started to hit the shots they missed in the first half, especially off of offensive rebounds.

But the engine behind that was Rykeem Ashley. He had a 14-point, 15-rebound double double and consistently crashed the glass, made cuts to the rim and finished at the basket.

In a year with relatively few seniors his contributions are extremely important to head coach Jamaal Garman.

“He’s our Dennis Rodman, man…Just straight energy the whole time,” Garman said. “There was never a let down with him…he’s a huge piece of what we do. He compliments Tyler Harris very, very well. Tyler shoots the ball and he just goes and rebounds it every single time. He’s a great player for us.”

While Ashley was the unsung hero of the evening, there was another player who helped ignite the crowd and get the momentum in Warner Robins’ favor.

Sophomore Edmund Dantes is starting to mature as a basketball player after an early start that almost had him back on the 9th grade team.

Even during the summer he looked unsure on the court, but as he gains more experience he’s also gaining confidence. He’s also significantly more animated.

Dantes hit a pair of and-ones in the second half on Tuesday, and each time he roared “Let’s go” and celebrated with his teammates.

Those moments woke the crowd up and got them into the game. Without that there’s no telling whether or not the Demons would have been able to carry that momentum through the rest of the game.

“As a sophomore that’s big, man, because he’s getting that confidence now,” Garman said. “By the time he becomes a senior and it’s his team, he’ll be a different player. But right now he’s learning his role. He understands when he goes in the game, ‘I can’t slack off, I can’t be [in] a 10th grader mindset. I got to go out there and play extremely hard.’ That’s what he did tonight. He knocked down some big time and-ones for us and opened the game up.”

Garman said he’s seen a lot of growth out of Dantes too.

“Right at the beginning of the year I was looking at him like, [he] might have to go back and play ninth grade as a 10th grader because he was just doing some stuff that we really weren’t ready for him to do,” Garman said. “But now he’s understood his role, he’s growing into it. He works on his craft every single day at practice and after practice. So it’s not like it’s foreign to him, he’s put the work in so now he’s getting the rewards [from] what he’s been working on. It’s good for him and I’m proud of him.”