For once, the Danville boys got exactly what they needed. Twice.

A rebuilding Danville team searching for positives got two of them Tuesday as it defeated Garrard County for the second time this season.

The Admirals got a big lift from their bench and a big night from their outside shooters in a 66-53 victory.

Danville got 47 of its 66 points off the bench, and reserves had all nine of the team’s 3-point baskets in a surprisingly good shooting night from the perimeter.

Danville coach Tryston Ford said he had been looking for both of those things, and they came wrapped up together in a neat little package.

“We’ve been needing sparks off the bench and we’ve been needing 3-point shooting, so it’s great to have it come at this time of year. Hopefully it sticks around,” Ford said.

Only two starters scored for Danville (4-14, 2-3 45th District), but three players came off the bench to pick up the slack.

Braylon Guest scored 22 points, DyiRon Moody had 13 points and Jonah Singleton had a career-high 12 points for the Admirals.

And all three scored from long range to help Danville, which had been shooting just 22 percent from 3-point range, go 9 for 20 from behind the line.

“It boosts our confidence and gets us in a rhythm,” Singleton said. “You know, once somebody comes off the bench and hits a few then it’s getting the whole team hype and they want to shoot, so it just builds up a rhythm and builds everybody’s confidence up to hit more shots.”

The 3-point barrage couldn’t have started at a better time for Danville, which fell behind Garrard 18-7 late in the first quarter.

Shortly after entering the game, Moody sank a shot from the top of the key, and Singleton followed with the first of his four 3s on the Admirals’ next possession.

Singleton hit two more 3s in the second quarter during a 7-0 run that pulled Danville within 25-22, and Guest hit a buzzer-beating 3 that tied the game at 27-all at halftime and sent the jubilant Admirals racing off the floor and into their locker room.

In the third quarter, Guest hit two 3s in the early going and Singleton hit one to launch an 11-0 run that gave Danville a 46-35 lead.

“It feels really good to come off the bench and know that we can shoot 3s and score to give our team a chance to win as we did tonight,” Singleton said.

It’s not the first time that has happened against Garrard. In Danville’s 67-61 win on Jan. 5 in Lancaster, Guest hit four 3-pointers and scored a career-high 28 points.

“Both times we’ve played Garrard we’ve had someone get hot from outside,” Ford said. “I think that gives our team a different dynamic if we can hit outside shots.”

Defense also was a big part of Danville’s success. Garrard had scoring droughts of 4:20 in the second quarter, 3:20 in the third and and 3:35 in the fourth.

“The first key to winning was pressure from end to end for 32 minutes straight,” Ford said. “They’re battling injuries right now … so we felt like if we pressed them for four quarters that it would eventually wear them down and it worked out.”

Garrard (5-16, 0-6) is without two starters who have knee injuries. Damarion Boatley was recently lost for the season and Jeffrey Skeens is expected to miss a few games.

“We’re trying to learn to play without two of our leading scorers, so it takes time,” Garrard coach Kasey McRay said. “They pressured up on us and we didn’t handle it well, then we got tired and still didn’t handle it well.”

Jaydon Noe scored a game-high 29 points for the Golden Lions, but no one else had more than seven.

“I thought we started the game off really well controlled, I really liked the way we were playing and then the inexperience, waiting on other people to score in the game and just trying to figure it out (hurt us),” McRay said.

Danville also outrebounded Garrard 45-26, led by Trevarion Paige with 13 rebounds.

Hunter Caldwell had eight rebounds for Garrard.

It’s highly possible there will be a third meeting between the teams, who are currently fourth and fifth in the district standings and would face each other in the first round of the district tournament if they hold those positions. However, Ford said just getting a district win was enough for this night.

“I constantly try to stay on them about the district wins,” he said. “It’s always good to get a district win, but at this time of year, considering we’ve been struggling, it’s even better.”

Girls

Danville 70, Garrard County 30

Danville scored the first 11 points of the game and was never threatened as it completed a regular-season sweep of Garrard.

Tayvionna Caldwell had 18 points and 12 rebounds and led four Lady Admirals in double figures in scoring.

Danville (7-12, 2-3) led 26-4 midway through the second quarter behind six points each from Caldwell, Alayah Quisenberry and Myla Turner, and it was 30-11 at halftime.

Turner finished with 13 points, reserve Aniah Byrd had 11 and Quisenberry had 10.

Nemaeh Jackson had nine rebounds and Turner had eight for the Lady Admirals, who outrebounded Garrard 47-15 and had 24 offensive boards.

Garrard (7-14, 0-5) got six points from Bristol Powell.