Big 3rd quarter lifts Tigers over Paint Valley

The McClain boys basketball team opened the 2025-26 season with a convincing 72-48 victory over Paint Valley Wednesday night in Greenfield.

Just like the girls game played earlier in the evening, it took a big third-quarter offensive outburst to really be the difference in the game when McClain outscored the Bearcats 29-14 to take a 17-point lead. The Tigers led by just two points 30-28 at halftime after an entertaining and very physical first half of play by both teams.

“We saw some adversity tonight, but I thought our kids fought through it,” said McClain head coach Jarrod Haines. “That was a great third quarter for us, and we had a lot of kids really step up and give us some big minutes.

“I think we had some first-game jitters, especially early when we couldn’t make layups and free-throws, but once we saw the ball go in a couple times in the third quarter that was kind of ‘all she wrote,’ and we rode out that momentum.”

Both teams were very young and inexperienced coming into the ballgame, but Coach Haines and first-year Paint Valley head coach Marcus Coleman got some positive results from a lot of those younger players.

McClain was led in scoring by senior point guard Jordan Bell, who tallied a team-high 14 points, followed by Hudson Lovett, who was close behind with 13. 

Senior Julien Evans came in off the bench and really seemed to spark the Tigers both on offense and defense when he scored eight points and played very well on the defensive end of the floor.

“Julien (Evans) came in and was very consistent on both ends all game long,” Haines said. “We knew Hudson Lovett was a tough match-up, and Jordan Bell shoots the basketball well, but we need to have kids like Julien, Brady Binegar, Matthew Cummins, Kolton Lamb and Connor Chandler to come in and do the kind of things they did tonight.

“It seemed like it was always someone different all night, and with our youth and inexperience, we’re really going to need that.”

The final score really didn’t indicate how close and evenly played the game was for two-plus quarters.

Paint Valley was led in scoring by their two senior guards Jase Rinehart and Landon Elliott, who scored 17 and 13 points, respectively. 

Lamb, Cummins and Binegar who are sophomores, all saw lots of valuable playing time for MHS, along with freshman Lucas Banks.

“We’re super young, but these kids are really taking advantage of their playing time opportunities, and I know what they can bring to the table,” Haines said. “I think we could probably start anybody on this team right now, but we have to feed our hot hands, and that’s what we did tonight.”

McClain (1-0) travels to Lynchburg-Clay Tuesday, Dec. 2, then plays at Whiteoak Saturday, Dec. 6. 

Individual scoring for McClain: Jordan Bell 14, Hudson Lovett 13, Julien Evans 8, Matthew Cummins 7, Kolton Lamb 7, Brady Binegar 6, Rilan Ballein 6, Connor Chandler 5 and Elijah Storer 5. The Tigers converted only 8-of-21 foul shots in the game.