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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

CJ Coleman, a sophomore move-in from Missouri, buried 7 of 9 shots and scored 19 points in his Davie debut. Freshman Ben Reid collected 18 points and eight rebounds in his Davie debut. Jake Runge, who attended Ellis Middle but spent last year at Quality Education Academy before returning to Davie for his freshman year, put up 13 points, including eight in a span of three possessions in the fourth quarter, as the War Eagles tore through visiting Lexington 71-34 in the Nov. 21 opener.

Whoa. Davie JV boys basketball coach Tracey Arnold has more talent than he was expecting in 2023-24. Reid converted 6 of 8 field goals. When Runge went crazy in the fourth, he hit back-to-back 3-pointers before scoring as he was fouled.

“CJ plays two and three,” Arnold said. “He can play small forward and sometimes I run him at the point. He handles the ball well. He’s a transition player. His game is getting out in the open floor; that’s where he turns his game on. He can go get it. He came off the bench and said he did not care about starting, so he’s got a real good attitude as far as being a team player.

“Ben he’s a promising freshman (at 6-foot-4). He’s one of the future players on varsity. I’m trying to get him ready for the next level.

“I was not expecting (Runge) to come back to Davie. He’s a sharpshooter. He can shoot the lights out of it.”

The War Eagles surged to a 29-18 halftime lead, but the real fireworks came in the second half. Coleman and Reid accounted for 16 of 20 points in the third, when Davie pushed the margin to 49-27. Davie continued to pour in on in the fourth.

“We started off slow, but we picked it up in the second half,” Arnold said. “I really did not know what to expect; we’ve got a lot of freshmen.”

Arnold has nine freshmen, including Braxton Bowling (six points, three assists against Lexington), Cam Knox (three points), Ty Greene, Jayden Warren (four points, three steals), Aiden Horton, Brice Wilson and Ian Patton. The roster includes Brady Vallance (four points), Colson Sink (two points), George Sakai (two points), Noah Tysinger and Jackson Sulecki.

“Colson is a hard worker,” said Arnold, who will be missing an injured Sulecki until the middle of December. “Jackson hurt his wrist.”

Arnold’s new assistant coach is Daniel York.