The Russell County Lakers used an 18-9 third quarter run to put away the host Casey County Rebels Tuesday night in Liberty. The win moves coach Willie Feldhaus' club to 13-7 on the season and prepares them for a big Monday night district game against Metcalfe County to settle district tournament seeding.

"I didn't think we played that bad the first half but we also got outrebounded by six," Feldhaus said of his ballclub who shot 29 percent from the field the first 16 minutes. "I told our kids at halftime they had to be more aggressive and shots will fall."

Feldhaus said his team had only a few offensive rebounds on the night and a lot of missed field goals in the first half.

The Lakers returned to the court in the second half to shoot 54 percent from the field, upping their percentage for the game to 41 percent while holding the Rebels to just 32 percent shooting on the night.

Russell County was again led in scoring by sophomore Tyler Robertson with 25 points and four assists while sophomore Barton Mann tallied 12 points on 6-7 shooting for the game.

"Without a doubt, offensively, it was the best game he's had," Feldhaus said of Mann. "He jumped up and shot the ball with confidence and it seemed like he was sure of himself."

The Laker coach said if Mann could produce in that point range consistently it would only add to the team's repertoire and with junior Blake Aaron having an off night shooting the ball, finishing with just five points, Mann's productivity became even more key.

Eighth grader Nick Coffey again had a big game for Russell County, scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in just over 20 minutes of action.

Senior point guard Martin Cross had four points, four rebounds and two assists on the night while junior Hunter Best also chipped in four points. Both Dustin Pierce and Alex Turner scored one point each.

Casey County, who played a zone defense for much of the game, was led in scoring by Brad Jeffries with 18 points while James Burton finished with 13 points.