By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – It was kind of like looking in a mirror.

The Telstar running Rebels found an opponent with a similar style and penchant for playing fast and loose basketball.

“It was a taste of you’re own medicine almost,” said Telstar junior guard Sean Caddigan. “Sometimes it can be frustrating because you’re getting back and they’re already there. All year in the MVC, most teams had a big man. So we’d either have a four-on-three or a four-on-one. This time it was a four-on-four or a three-on-three.”

Though Traip Academy kept pace with the Rebels for the first half Monday night, Telstar eventually pulled away in a 67-47 Western C quarterfinal win.

Traip moved within six points at the half, but the Rebels raced ahead with 12-4 run early in the second half and never looked back.

“They’re a lot like us,” said Telstar coach Alec Newell. “They like to run. We saw them and thought we could match up well. We knew they like to get up and down the floor. It just so happened that we got up and down the floor a little bit more.”

Caddigan finished with 30 points for the fourth-ranked Rebels (13-6). Josh Longway added 10 points while Ryan Savage had eight points, 12 assists and seven rebounds. Fifth-seeded Traip (9-8) got 18 from Isaiah Plummer but was without its leading scorer, Kevin Nicholson, who was out sick.

“That hurt because that’s pretty much 16 to 20 points for us,” said Traip coach Jeremy Paul. “He’s a leader. So when something breaks down, they look for him to score. Tonight that had to be Isaiah.”

Telstar was up 20-14 at the half but knew it should have been more. Traip missed its first eight shots of the second quarter and finished 3-for-17 from the floor. The Rangers also had six turnovers in the quarter. Telstar’s offense wasn’t much better though. The Rebels shot just 3-for-13 and had eight turnovers. Despite having a 10-point lead early in the quarter, the Rangers closed to within six.

“The second quarter we had a huge opportunity to open the game up, and we didn’t,” said Newell. “Luckily, we came out and played a real solid half of basketball.”

The Rebels produced another strong defensive effort in the third quarter, holding Traip to 6-for-16 from the floor and forcing another six turnovers. This time, however, the Rebels had the offense to match.

“We came out really strong in the first quarter,” said Caddigan. “Then we went real flat. So we knew we had to come out strong. The first three minutes was going to determine it.”

After a Plummer basket, Terry Collins hit a leaner. Plummer put back a rebound, but Telstar came back with six straight points. After a Caddigan basket, a Longway steal made it 32-24. Another steal helped set up a Savage score on a feed from Caddigan.

After a Plummer basket, Savage fed Collins and Longway put back a rebound for a 12-point lead. Telstar finished the quarter with an 8-4 surge that produced a 14-point lead it would never relinquish.

“We couldn’t come up with the defense,” said Paul. “Nobody decided to take charge. We got a couple of stops, but didn’t get as many consecutive ones as we needed.”