Late moments in 4th frame lead to Hillsboro win at Lynchburg-Clay
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
DODSONVILLE — The fourth quarter between Highland County counterparts Lynchburg-Clay and Hillsboro had a little bit of everything mixed into the non-conference showdown on Tuesday night at LCHS.
There were lead changes late in the game, violations and a technical foul called on the home team in the final 20 seconds of regulation, and clutch free throws were made by the visiting Indians that eventually led to Hillsboro taking the lead and gaining the win, defeating the host Mustangs 72-68.
How did the final moments of the game go down?
Emotions were at a near-breaking point as the Mustangs held a five-point lead with 1:35 left in the fourth frame after Brady Chisman made two free throws for the home team, putting the LC squad ahead 68-63.
The Indians (10-11) came back with a two-point basket by Hunter Price with 1:20 left, and with 1:10 on the clock the Mustangs called a timeout. As the Mustangs had possession of the ball, a 5-second violation call was made against the Mustangs with 53.6 on the fourth-quarter clock, and with 29 seconds left in the game the Indians took advantage of the situation and scored two points off a basket by Bryce Parsons for a 68-67 score still in favor of the Mustangs.
The Mustangs (5-11) again lost possession of the ball on a violation call with 20 seconds left in the game, as the Indians called a timeout with 15.7 seconds left in regulation. On the ensuing inbounds pass, before the ball was thrown into play, the Mustangs were given a technical foul, giving Ethan Parry of the Indians a trip to the free-throw line.
Parry was clutch from the charity stripe as he made both free-throw attempts, putting the Indians into the lead. With HHS keeping possession of the ball following the earlier technical foul call, Parry was fouled, and once again he sank both free-throw attempts, increasing the HHS lead to three points at 71-68 with 14.4 on the clock.
After both teams called consecutive timeouts with 10.6 left in regulation, the Mustangs had another chance at taking the lead, but they missed a 3-pointer attempt and the ball bounced out of bounds with 3.9 left in the game. HHS was fouled again, and Quintin Captain made one free throw, giving the Indians their final score of 72-68 and the four-point win over their Highland County rival.
“First off, I want to give Lynchburg-Clay a ton of credit. They gave us an unbelievable shot tonight, a great effort and they are a very well-coached team. Matt (Carson) does a great job with them, and it was a heck of a basketball game. Somebody has to come out on top, and I was happy it was us,” HHS head coach Miles Burton said.
Burton also spoke about the late free throws made by Parry.
“I knew he was making those,” Burton said. “He was a sophomore my first year here, and he came in and made some tech free throws then. The kid has ice in his veins, and it is not luck. It’s not some sort of instinct. Ethan works harder than everybody else, and it is that simple,” Burton said. “When you put in the work and the game speed reps he puts during down time when others are sleeping or doing other things, he’s able to have big moments like he did tonight. Once he went to the line, the hard part was done. I knew those four were going in.”
Parry led the Indians with 22 points, making five 3-pointers and he was 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. Also with double-figure scoring for HHS were Captain and Parsons with 13 points each. Captain finished with five two-point baskets and was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Parsons collected six two-point buckets and went 1-of-3 with his free-throw attempts.
“Bryce (who had a double-double) is unbelievable. The amount he’s up over the past couple years is exponential,” Burton said. “Bryce does a lot of good things for us, and I’m happy when he’s able to show it in front of fans.”
Also for the Indians, Jayse Middleton and Bentley Watson each finished with seven points in the win over LCHS. Middleton collected two two-point baskets and was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line, while Watson made two two-point field goals and one 3-pointer.
As a team, the Indians collected 20 two-point baskets, six 3-pointers and finished 14-of-19 from the free-throw line.
Lynchburg-Clay in the home loss saw Chisman led the team in scoring with 19 points, as he made two field goals, four 3-pointers and was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Noah Miller totaled 14 points for LCHS, making two two-point baskets, four 3-pointers and he was 1-of-2 from with his free-throw opportunities.
Logan Shope collected 14 points for the Mustangs with four two-point buckets and a 6-of-7 performance from the free-throw line. Also for the Mustangs, Bryce Binkley totaled nine points with three baskets and he was 3-of-3 from the free-throw line. Also with nine points was Ian Waits, as he made three two-point baskets and one 3-pointer.
The Mustangs finished with 14 two-point field goals, nine 3-pointers and were 13-of-16 from the free-throw line.
“I told the kids ‘what a great high school basketball game,’” LCHS head coach Matt Carson said. “They had kids step up and hit shots, and I thought their role players had some real critical baskets at times. Parry was shooting lights-out. This game is exactly why every team in the county needs to play each other because it means something, the fans come out.
“We are unfortunate because we lost on our end, but give Hillsboro credit, they fought and battled back. It was back-and-forth ,and both teams hit shots where they had to. We had our chances, they had their chances and sometimes the ball just doesn’t go your way.”
In the opening frame, the Indians held a 16-15 advantage when the quarter came to a close as the Indians led by as many as six points on two occasions, and for LCHS, they made a comeback and took the lead with 3:14 on the scoreboard.
HHS kept the lead for the rest of the quarter as Watson knocked down a 3-pointer for HHS, and Parsons scored a basket as well. During that same span, Shope and Binkley made free throws, leaving the Indians in the lead by a point.
The score stayed close in the second frame, though it was Hillsboro leading through the eight-minute frame. The Indians led by as many as seven points in the quarter and eventually had a four-point lead at halftime at 33-29.
Hillsboro in the second had 11 points from Parry (three 3-pointer), while Parsons, Middleton and Watson each put two points on the board. LCHS in the second quarter had a 3-pointer from Waits, five points by Miller, two points from Shope and four points by Chisman, including a 3-pointer.
“Bentley has been working hard these past few weeks, and I’m happy for him,” Burton said. “The games are one percent of the amount of time I spend on the court with the guys. When I see them working hard in practice, you don’t always get to see it out here, so that’s why I’m so happy for Bryce, for Bentley, for Ethan … all of them. I thought Quintin Captain played a heck of a game. I’m just happy for all of them they are able to showcase that in front of their community because they are putting in the time behind the scenes.”
The Indians’ lead fell to three points after three frames at 55-52 as the Mustangs outscored HHS, 23-22 in the quarter. The Indians held the lead or the score was tied in the third until there was 44 seconds left in the quarter, then Chisman hit a huge 3-pointer for a 52-51 LC advantage. The Indians took the lead back with four points to end the quarter.
HHS in the third had four points by Parry (including a 3-pointer), six points off three baskets by Captain, four points by Middleton, four points from Price and two points each off buckets from Parsons and Watson.
LCHS in the third had two 3-pointers from Miller, seven points by Shope, five points from Binkley and five points by Chisman.
The fourth-quarter scoring for the Mustangs included two more 3-pointers by Miller, a two-point basket off a shot from Waits, four made free throws by Shope and four points from Chisman.
“We’ve done a better job lately of getting what we call one more pass. Instead of settling for a good shot, we get great shots, and I thought we did that a lot tonight,” Carson said. “Guys found the open guy in space after we drove and attacked, and when we get our post game going too, that really helps and that was really good to see.
“We added some new defensive wrinkles too, and that will help us as we go into the tournament. At the end of the day, I asked the kids: ‘Did we lose our goals we have for the next two weeks,’ and the answer is no.”
Carson was pleased with the effort from his team on Tuesday.
“We had different guys go on streaks. Noah Miller, Brady Chisman, Bryce was doing things inside defensively, Logan had his go of it, Ian had some good takes of distributing the basketball,” Carson said. “One thing that goes under the sun is we had two guys come off the bench, being Trey Pitzer and Luke Smith. They came in and did their roles.
“I told the kids we have to continue to stay tethered to each other. It is so hard today because I think being a part of a team is the hardest thing to do today. You have to be able to give up a part of yourself to be successful. At the end of the day, you have to be able to look that guy across from you in the face and let them know that you love them, and let you know that you care about them.
“Those guys have been playing like that for the past two weeks. I love them to death, I feel for them. This is a big game. This Hillsboro and Lynchburg-Clay is intense. I want to thank the kids for their effort, and I want to thank God. He keeps testing us and putting us in situations. Adversity brings us stronger. It melts off the impurities, and we are only going to get better because of it.”
HHS in the final frame had seven points from Parry, as he made a 3-pointer and was 4-of-4 from the line late in the quarter. Captain made one free throw, Middleton made a free throw, Parsons sank three baskets for six points and Price made a two-point bucket.
Next for the Indians is a makeup FAC game on Thursday at home against the outright 2021-22 FAC champion McClain Tigers at HHS on Feb. 10.
Carson also wanted to congratulate the band on having their state banner revealed on the gym wall.
“I want to congratulate Paul McCalla and the band on their success and how proud we are of them and their accomplishments,” Carson said.
LCHS plays again on Feb. 11 in a home game against West Union.
[[In-content Ad]]
There were lead changes late in the game, violations and a technical foul called on the home team in the final 20 seconds of regulation, and clutch free throws were made by the visiting Indians that eventually led to Hillsboro taking the lead and gaining the win, defeating the host Mustangs 72-68.
How did the final moments of the game go down?
Emotions were at a near-breaking point as the Mustangs held a five-point lead with 1:35 left in the fourth frame after Brady Chisman made two free throws for the home team, putting the LC squad ahead 68-63.
The Indians (10-11) came back with a two-point basket by Hunter Price with 1:20 left, and with 1:10 on the clock the Mustangs called a timeout. As the Mustangs had possession of the ball, a 5-second violation call was made against the Mustangs with 53.6 on the fourth-quarter clock, and with 29 seconds left in the game the Indians took advantage of the situation and scored two points off a basket by Bryce Parsons for a 68-67 score still in favor of the Mustangs.
The Mustangs (5-11) again lost possession of the ball on a violation call with 20 seconds left in the game, as the Indians called a timeout with 15.7 seconds left in regulation. On the ensuing inbounds pass, before the ball was thrown into play, the Mustangs were given a technical foul, giving Ethan Parry of the Indians a trip to the free-throw line.
Parry was clutch from the charity stripe as he made both free-throw attempts, putting the Indians into the lead. With HHS keeping possession of the ball following the earlier technical foul call, Parry was fouled, and once again he sank both free-throw attempts, increasing the HHS lead to three points at 71-68 with 14.4 on the clock.
After both teams called consecutive timeouts with 10.6 left in regulation, the Mustangs had another chance at taking the lead, but they missed a 3-pointer attempt and the ball bounced out of bounds with 3.9 left in the game. HHS was fouled again, and Quintin Captain made one free throw, giving the Indians their final score of 72-68 and the four-point win over their Highland County rival.
“First off, I want to give Lynchburg-Clay a ton of credit. They gave us an unbelievable shot tonight, a great effort and they are a very well-coached team. Matt (Carson) does a great job with them, and it was a heck of a basketball game. Somebody has to come out on top, and I was happy it was us,” HHS head coach Miles Burton said.
Burton also spoke about the late free throws made by Parry.
“I knew he was making those,” Burton said. “He was a sophomore my first year here, and he came in and made some tech free throws then. The kid has ice in his veins, and it is not luck. It’s not some sort of instinct. Ethan works harder than everybody else, and it is that simple,” Burton said. “When you put in the work and the game speed reps he puts during down time when others are sleeping or doing other things, he’s able to have big moments like he did tonight. Once he went to the line, the hard part was done. I knew those four were going in.”
Parry led the Indians with 22 points, making five 3-pointers and he was 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. Also with double-figure scoring for HHS were Captain and Parsons with 13 points each. Captain finished with five two-point baskets and was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Parsons collected six two-point buckets and went 1-of-3 with his free-throw attempts.
“Bryce (who had a double-double) is unbelievable. The amount he’s up over the past couple years is exponential,” Burton said. “Bryce does a lot of good things for us, and I’m happy when he’s able to show it in front of fans.”
Also for the Indians, Jayse Middleton and Bentley Watson each finished with seven points in the win over LCHS. Middleton collected two two-point baskets and was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line, while Watson made two two-point field goals and one 3-pointer.
As a team, the Indians collected 20 two-point baskets, six 3-pointers and finished 14-of-19 from the free-throw line.
Lynchburg-Clay in the home loss saw Chisman led the team in scoring with 19 points, as he made two field goals, four 3-pointers and was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. Noah Miller totaled 14 points for LCHS, making two two-point baskets, four 3-pointers and he was 1-of-2 from with his free-throw opportunities.
Logan Shope collected 14 points for the Mustangs with four two-point buckets and a 6-of-7 performance from the free-throw line. Also for the Mustangs, Bryce Binkley totaled nine points with three baskets and he was 3-of-3 from the free-throw line. Also with nine points was Ian Waits, as he made three two-point baskets and one 3-pointer.
The Mustangs finished with 14 two-point field goals, nine 3-pointers and were 13-of-16 from the free-throw line.
“I told the kids ‘what a great high school basketball game,’” LCHS head coach Matt Carson said. “They had kids step up and hit shots, and I thought their role players had some real critical baskets at times. Parry was shooting lights-out. This game is exactly why every team in the county needs to play each other because it means something, the fans come out.
“We are unfortunate because we lost on our end, but give Hillsboro credit, they fought and battled back. It was back-and-forth ,and both teams hit shots where they had to. We had our chances, they had their chances and sometimes the ball just doesn’t go your way.”
In the opening frame, the Indians held a 16-15 advantage when the quarter came to a close as the Indians led by as many as six points on two occasions, and for LCHS, they made a comeback and took the lead with 3:14 on the scoreboard.
HHS kept the lead for the rest of the quarter as Watson knocked down a 3-pointer for HHS, and Parsons scored a basket as well. During that same span, Shope and Binkley made free throws, leaving the Indians in the lead by a point.
The score stayed close in the second frame, though it was Hillsboro leading through the eight-minute frame. The Indians led by as many as seven points in the quarter and eventually had a four-point lead at halftime at 33-29.
Hillsboro in the second had 11 points from Parry (three 3-pointer), while Parsons, Middleton and Watson each put two points on the board. LCHS in the second quarter had a 3-pointer from Waits, five points by Miller, two points from Shope and four points by Chisman, including a 3-pointer.
“Bentley has been working hard these past few weeks, and I’m happy for him,” Burton said. “The games are one percent of the amount of time I spend on the court with the guys. When I see them working hard in practice, you don’t always get to see it out here, so that’s why I’m so happy for Bryce, for Bentley, for Ethan … all of them. I thought Quintin Captain played a heck of a game. I’m just happy for all of them they are able to showcase that in front of their community because they are putting in the time behind the scenes.”
The Indians’ lead fell to three points after three frames at 55-52 as the Mustangs outscored HHS, 23-22 in the quarter. The Indians held the lead or the score was tied in the third until there was 44 seconds left in the quarter, then Chisman hit a huge 3-pointer for a 52-51 LC advantage. The Indians took the lead back with four points to end the quarter.
HHS in the third had four points by Parry (including a 3-pointer), six points off three baskets by Captain, four points by Middleton, four points from Price and two points each off buckets from Parsons and Watson.
LCHS in the third had two 3-pointers from Miller, seven points by Shope, five points from Binkley and five points by Chisman.
The fourth-quarter scoring for the Mustangs included two more 3-pointers by Miller, a two-point basket off a shot from Waits, four made free throws by Shope and four points from Chisman.
“We’ve done a better job lately of getting what we call one more pass. Instead of settling for a good shot, we get great shots, and I thought we did that a lot tonight,” Carson said. “Guys found the open guy in space after we drove and attacked, and when we get our post game going too, that really helps and that was really good to see.
“We added some new defensive wrinkles too, and that will help us as we go into the tournament. At the end of the day, I asked the kids: ‘Did we lose our goals we have for the next two weeks,’ and the answer is no.”
Carson was pleased with the effort from his team on Tuesday.
“We had different guys go on streaks. Noah Miller, Brady Chisman, Bryce was doing things inside defensively, Logan had his go of it, Ian had some good takes of distributing the basketball,” Carson said. “One thing that goes under the sun is we had two guys come off the bench, being Trey Pitzer and Luke Smith. They came in and did their roles.
“I told the kids we have to continue to stay tethered to each other. It is so hard today because I think being a part of a team is the hardest thing to do today. You have to be able to give up a part of yourself to be successful. At the end of the day, you have to be able to look that guy across from you in the face and let them know that you love them, and let you know that you care about them.
“Those guys have been playing like that for the past two weeks. I love them to death, I feel for them. This is a big game. This Hillsboro and Lynchburg-Clay is intense. I want to thank the kids for their effort, and I want to thank God. He keeps testing us and putting us in situations. Adversity brings us stronger. It melts off the impurities, and we are only going to get better because of it.”
HHS in the final frame had seven points from Parry, as he made a 3-pointer and was 4-of-4 from the line late in the quarter. Captain made one free throw, Middleton made a free throw, Parsons sank three baskets for six points and Price made a two-point bucket.
Next for the Indians is a makeup FAC game on Thursday at home against the outright 2021-22 FAC champion McClain Tigers at HHS on Feb. 10.
Carson also wanted to congratulate the band on having their state banner revealed on the gym wall.
“I want to congratulate Paul McCalla and the band on their success and how proud we are of them and their accomplishments,” Carson said.
LCHS plays again on Feb. 11 in a home game against West Union.
[[In-content Ad]]