FORT LORAMIE — Russia senior guard Brayden Monnin scored the first two baskets of a game in the Fort Loramie MLK Classic on Sunday, then set up fellow senior Felix Francis for a dunk.

“That was a great play,” Monnin said. “I got him against New Bremen, too, I think. He just yells my name, and I look back to make sure it’s him, and I throw it off the backboard. It gets the crowd going.”

It got the crowd going Sunday and was a sign of what was to come: another dominating Russia victory.

The Raiders, which were ranked No. 2 in Div. IV the first Associated Press state poll of the year, beat previously unbeaten Antwerp 66-36 to improve to 13-0 overall. It’s the third previously unbeaten team they’ve beaten in the last three weeks.

“We’re doing pretty good,” Monnin said. “We’re taking each game one at a time, because any team can knock us off, because they’re giving us their best shot.”

Antwerp 6-foot-4 senior forward Landon Brewer was named the Green Meadows Conference player of the year last season and was averaging about 21 points and 10 rebounds per game entering Sunday’s game. He managed a team-high 12 points and struggled to rebound.

Francis (6-5), Braylon Cordonnier (6-4) and Benjamin York (6-4) trapped Brewer throughout the game.

“He’s really good at getting his own and he’s unselfish, too,” Russia coach Spencer Cordonnier said. “One thing we talked about was not getting caught at staring at what Brewer was doing, knowing that we had to help but being ready to get back to our assignments.

“It was a matter of getting the ball out of his hands, and then playing our normal defense. …All three of those guys did a fantastic job guarding him.”

Brewer and all of the Archers (10-1) struggled to rebound; the Raiders unofficially had a 28-13 rebounding edge. Antwerp also committed about 20 turnovers.

“We have so much length, that we get a tip on the ball, somebody would come over and grab it, and we’d get a lot of easy points in transition,” Monnin said. “We did a really good job rebounding today, too.”

It was the fourth of six games on Sunday and was one of three games in the middle of the day with near-capacity crowds.

“This event is fantastic,” Cordonnier said. “You get to play somebody outside of your area that you don’t know very well, and you get a different type of crowd. It’s really neat for the kids. Mitch (Westerheide) did a great job of organizing everything this year.”

Russia scored the first six points, including Francis’ two-handed dunk. The Raiders were a bit slower to score over the last five minutes, in part due to several turnovers.

But they dominated the second quarter with a 19-7 scoring edge and took a 33-14 lead at halftime. Jaxon Grogean made two 3s in the quarter, and senior guard Hayden Quinter scored six points.

Cordonnier said the team did well in transition.

“These kids, they get deflections. They know what they’re doing,” Cordonnier said. “Defensively, they know that if we can get as many deflections as we can, then they’re off to the races.

“… A couple of teams have been able to slow us down a little bit and handle that type pressure. We can play both ways, but that’s the way they like to play. Push the basketball and present as much pressure as we can.”

Francis scored six points to help lead a 20-14 scoring edge in the third. Russia then outscored the Archers 13-8 in the fourth.

Monnin led the Raiders with 15 points. Quinter scored 14, Grogean scored nine and Francis finished with eight.

It was the second big win of the weekend for the Raiders, which beat Jackson Center 58-34 on Friday in a Shelby County Athletic League game. Gorgean scored 12, Vince Borchers and Francis each scored 10 and York added seven.

It was a more lopsided result than a 53-45 win over the Tigers in a season opener.

“They’re really known for their defense, and we like to expose our matchups because we have so much height,” Monnin said. “We tend to put Hayden in the post a lot more now, because he has a shorter guy on him. I think we did a good job of exposing our matchups (on Friday).”

Russia is scheduled to travel to Fairlawn (1-11) for an SCAL game on Friday and will travel to Miami East (8-5) for a nonconference game on Saturday.

Reach Bryant Billing at 937-538-4818, or follow @SidneyOHSports on Twitter and @BryantBillingSDN on Facebook.