Lynchburg-Clay fends off Hillsboro
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
Though the Hillsboro Indians were down one of their top scorers, they didn’t make things easy for the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs on Friday night. That said, the Mustangs took all the Indians had to offer, as they took the lead close to the midway point of the second quarter and didn’t relinquish it again, defeating the host Indians 75-64 at HHS.
The non-conference rivalry game to close out the 2016 calendar year was played physical, and the Mustangs (5-2) were the beneficiaries by shooting 37 free throws in the game compared to six by the Indians. The Mustangs took full advantage of their trips to the free-throw line by making 27 of them in the win, as they also broke a two-game losing streak with the 11-point victory.
For HHS, they were without their second-leading scorer in Philip Mycroft, who missed the game with an injury.
LC’s win over the Indians featured two teams who played closely all game long, but it was the Indians who led after the first quarter with an 18-14 lead. By the time the second quarter came to a close, the Mustangs rallied for a 37-31 advantage.
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“It’s been a work in progress all year as far as figuring out where kids can go and what kids can do. I talked to a couple of kids that were sitting there at the end of the game, and I said I thought tonight was one of our more team ball games that we’ve played all year,” LC head coach Matt Carson said. “We still have to get better on the defensive end, and I know that’s on me. We’ve got to close out better.
“We’ve got to plug that lane a little bit better, contest a little bit better. I told the kids that you’ve just got to find ways to get it done. At the end of the day, I think at the high school level, if you play hard and you’re in position to put yourself to win a basketball game, I think good things are going to happen. A lot of the things that we didn’t do well our last two games, we did well tonight, and it was good to go into the new year on a winning note.”
Combined, the first quarter had four 3-pointers, two from each team, but the game began with a jumper by Lynchburg-Clay’s Eric McLaughlin nearly one minute into the game. The Indians tied it with a jumper from Hillsboro’s Kelton Anderson. Later, the score was tied at 4-4, but the Mustangs jumped in front with a free throw by Joe Giordano, who not only made it a 5-4 lead in favor of the Mustangs, but led all scorers with 27 points.
HHS (1-6) answered the free throw with seven straight points from Josh Keets, Ethan Watson (a 3-pointer) and Matthew Ryan, who scored two points off a steal and layup for a lead of 11-5 with 3:53 left in the first frame. Watson led the Indians with 18 points, while Keets totaled 14 points and Anderson followed with 13 points.
Michael Heindel broke up the Indians scoring with a 3-pointer for the Mustangs, but HHS came back this time with a layup by Watson and two points from Anderson for a 16-8 advantage with 2:34 still left on the first-quarter clock.
LC pushed back with six straight points off two 3-pointers from Heindel and McLaughlin, but the Indians had yet another answer to points by LC, that being two points of their own from Keets to complete the quarter scoring, leaving the Indians in front by four points at 18-14.
“I’m so proud of the way we’re coming out early with energy and effort. We’re making some shots, and Kelton Anderson, I thought, played his tail off tonight and made some huge shots and huge rebounds,” HHS head coach Bruce Miles said. “He stepped up for Philip tonight. I can’t be more happy with his effort tonight. He really stepped in and did a great job for us.
“I told Josh, ‘you’re going to have to shoulder the load now.’ He’s one of our better rebounders, but when you lose Phil to injury like that, and he’s kind of our big guy in the middle, he had to step up. He did a great job on the glass.”
Heindel opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer (he totaled 10 points in the win), and following two points by Keets, the Mustangs were connecting from beyond the arc once again, this time with McLaughlin swishing a 3-pointer at the 6:56 mark to tie the score at 20. A 3-pointer by Watson put the Indians back ahead with 6:26 still left in the first half.
That deficit lasted 19 seconds with Giordano sinking a jumper and McLaughlin adding another 3-pointer to his resumé at the 4:43 mark of the second, putting the Mustangs in front 25-23. McLaughlin finished with 17 points, including a total of four 3-pointers.
The 3-pointer from McLaughlin not only put LC in front, but they didn’t lose the lead for the remainder of the game, wrapping up the second quarter with a six-point lead at 37-31 as the Mustangs outscored the Indians 23-13 in the second half.
The final two quarters were very close in scoring with LC outscoring the Indians, 15-14 in the third and 23-20 in the fourth. In the third, LC had two 3-pointers from Damin Pierson, along with five points by Giordano and two points each from Brian Lampkin and A.J. Stroop.
In the third, Hillsboro had three 3-pointers with two from Cameron Reed late in the third, as his first 3-pointer with 1:35 left in the quarter made it a six-point deficit for the Tribe at 47-41. Also in the third for the Indians, Watson sank a 3-pointer, his third of the game, along with two free throws. Keets added the other two points for the Indians in the frame.
The Indians added three more 3-pointers in the fourth from Payton Bell, Watson and Anderson, along with scoring from Keets and Reed, as Reed ended the game with eight points.
The Mustangs in the fourth quarter had scoring from McLaughlin, Austin Hilt, Heindel, Giordano and Lampkin. Giordano put an exclamation point on the lead of LC with a dunk at the 1:47 mark of the final frame, then putting the Mustangs ahead by a 69-54 score. In the fourth, Giordano also was 12-of-15 from the free-throw line and for the game finished 15-of-19.
As for the final frame, the LC lead never got lower than nine points. The game also had one technical foul and one intentional foul called.
In the freshman game, HHS defeated Lynchburg-Clay, 42-21. Luke Magulac led Hillsboro with 13 points, and for LC, Gavin Frazier led with six points.
For the JV game, LC defeated the Indians, 50-40 as Noble Walker led with 21 points for LC, while teammate T. Stevens tallied 10 points. For HHS, Mason Swayne led with 12 points, and Deon Burns totaled 11 points.
HHS will play again on Tuesday, Jan. 3, hosting Waverly in a non-conference matchup. The Mustangs will also play on Jan. 3, as they travel to Miami Trace.
The non-conference rivalry game to close out the 2016 calendar year was played physical, and the Mustangs (5-2) were the beneficiaries by shooting 37 free throws in the game compared to six by the Indians. The Mustangs took full advantage of their trips to the free-throw line by making 27 of them in the win, as they also broke a two-game losing streak with the 11-point victory.
For HHS, they were without their second-leading scorer in Philip Mycroft, who missed the game with an injury.
LC’s win over the Indians featured two teams who played closely all game long, but it was the Indians who led after the first quarter with an 18-14 lead. By the time the second quarter came to a close, the Mustangs rallied for a 37-31 advantage.
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“It’s been a work in progress all year as far as figuring out where kids can go and what kids can do. I talked to a couple of kids that were sitting there at the end of the game, and I said I thought tonight was one of our more team ball games that we’ve played all year,” LC head coach Matt Carson said. “We still have to get better on the defensive end, and I know that’s on me. We’ve got to close out better.
“We’ve got to plug that lane a little bit better, contest a little bit better. I told the kids that you’ve just got to find ways to get it done. At the end of the day, I think at the high school level, if you play hard and you’re in position to put yourself to win a basketball game, I think good things are going to happen. A lot of the things that we didn’t do well our last two games, we did well tonight, and it was good to go into the new year on a winning note.”
Combined, the first quarter had four 3-pointers, two from each team, but the game began with a jumper by Lynchburg-Clay’s Eric McLaughlin nearly one minute into the game. The Indians tied it with a jumper from Hillsboro’s Kelton Anderson. Later, the score was tied at 4-4, but the Mustangs jumped in front with a free throw by Joe Giordano, who not only made it a 5-4 lead in favor of the Mustangs, but led all scorers with 27 points.
HHS (1-6) answered the free throw with seven straight points from Josh Keets, Ethan Watson (a 3-pointer) and Matthew Ryan, who scored two points off a steal and layup for a lead of 11-5 with 3:53 left in the first frame. Watson led the Indians with 18 points, while Keets totaled 14 points and Anderson followed with 13 points.
Michael Heindel broke up the Indians scoring with a 3-pointer for the Mustangs, but HHS came back this time with a layup by Watson and two points from Anderson for a 16-8 advantage with 2:34 still left on the first-quarter clock.
LC pushed back with six straight points off two 3-pointers from Heindel and McLaughlin, but the Indians had yet another answer to points by LC, that being two points of their own from Keets to complete the quarter scoring, leaving the Indians in front by four points at 18-14.
“I’m so proud of the way we’re coming out early with energy and effort. We’re making some shots, and Kelton Anderson, I thought, played his tail off tonight and made some huge shots and huge rebounds,” HHS head coach Bruce Miles said. “He stepped up for Philip tonight. I can’t be more happy with his effort tonight. He really stepped in and did a great job for us.
“I told Josh, ‘you’re going to have to shoulder the load now.’ He’s one of our better rebounders, but when you lose Phil to injury like that, and he’s kind of our big guy in the middle, he had to step up. He did a great job on the glass.”
Heindel opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer (he totaled 10 points in the win), and following two points by Keets, the Mustangs were connecting from beyond the arc once again, this time with McLaughlin swishing a 3-pointer at the 6:56 mark to tie the score at 20. A 3-pointer by Watson put the Indians back ahead with 6:26 still left in the first half.
That deficit lasted 19 seconds with Giordano sinking a jumper and McLaughlin adding another 3-pointer to his resumé at the 4:43 mark of the second, putting the Mustangs in front 25-23. McLaughlin finished with 17 points, including a total of four 3-pointers.
The 3-pointer from McLaughlin not only put LC in front, but they didn’t lose the lead for the remainder of the game, wrapping up the second quarter with a six-point lead at 37-31 as the Mustangs outscored the Indians 23-13 in the second half.
The final two quarters were very close in scoring with LC outscoring the Indians, 15-14 in the third and 23-20 in the fourth. In the third, LC had two 3-pointers from Damin Pierson, along with five points by Giordano and two points each from Brian Lampkin and A.J. Stroop.
In the third, Hillsboro had three 3-pointers with two from Cameron Reed late in the third, as his first 3-pointer with 1:35 left in the quarter made it a six-point deficit for the Tribe at 47-41. Also in the third for the Indians, Watson sank a 3-pointer, his third of the game, along with two free throws. Keets added the other two points for the Indians in the frame.
The Indians added three more 3-pointers in the fourth from Payton Bell, Watson and Anderson, along with scoring from Keets and Reed, as Reed ended the game with eight points.
The Mustangs in the fourth quarter had scoring from McLaughlin, Austin Hilt, Heindel, Giordano and Lampkin. Giordano put an exclamation point on the lead of LC with a dunk at the 1:47 mark of the final frame, then putting the Mustangs ahead by a 69-54 score. In the fourth, Giordano also was 12-of-15 from the free-throw line and for the game finished 15-of-19.
As for the final frame, the LC lead never got lower than nine points. The game also had one technical foul and one intentional foul called.
In the freshman game, HHS defeated Lynchburg-Clay, 42-21. Luke Magulac led Hillsboro with 13 points, and for LC, Gavin Frazier led with six points.
For the JV game, LC defeated the Indians, 50-40 as Noble Walker led with 21 points for LC, while teammate T. Stevens tallied 10 points. For HHS, Mason Swayne led with 12 points, and Deon Burns totaled 11 points.
HHS will play again on Tuesday, Jan. 3, hosting Waverly in a non-conference matchup. The Mustangs will also play on Jan. 3, as they travel to Miami Trace.