Basketball Recap: Dynamic Duo of Arjay Keller and Rex Hallam Lead Richland County to Victory

Richland County won against Mattoon last Saturday with 56 points and they decided to stick to that point total again on Tuesday. The Richland County Tigers took down the Salem Wildcats 56-38. Given the Tigers' advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois basketball rankings (they are ranked 252nd, while the Wildcats are ranked 549th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.

Leading Richland County to victory were Rex Hallam and Arjay Keller. Hallam made all 6 shots he took to post 15 points, while Keller went 6 of 10 on his way to 14 points in addition to six assists and five boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Reid Brown, who posted eight points.

They weren't the only one working in the assists department: Richland County was working as a unit and finished the game with 15 assists. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Salem only racked up four assists.

Salem's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ryegan Warren, who put up nine points. The team also got some help courtesy of Noah Nix, who had 11 points.

Tigers

Previous 2 Games

12/17/24 vs Salem	56-38
12/14/24 @ Mattoon	56-47

The victory made it two in a row for Richland County and bumps their season record up to 5-4. As for Salem, they dropped their record down to 1-8 with the defeat, which was their tenth straight on the road dating back to last season.

Richland County and Paris will compete for holiday cheer at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Richland County is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 51 points per game this season. Salem will take on Freeburg in a holiday battle at at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Freeburg also hasn't been messing around on offense: they've averaged 54.7 points per game.