McClain fends off rival Hillsboro in 4th quarter to secure conference victory
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
HILLSBORO — The home Hillsboro Indians gained momentum early in the fourth quarter to cut the McClain Tigers’ lead from nine points to four points less than four minutes into the final frame. McClain answered in a big way by going on an 11-1 run in the final 4:48 to gain the Frontier Athletic Conference win by a 55-41 score.
The Tigers (3-2, 6-2) and the Indians fan bases packed the Hillsboro High School gym as both sides of the rivalry were playing, cheering and coaching with much emotion as the two Highland County rivals battled on the court.
McClain led by 12 points at halftime and by nine points after three frames at 42-33, but the fourth frame is where the game became very interesting and full of excitement. Each team had players foul out, and both teams made a strong push with Hillsboro getting close to the lead to eventually see the Tigers breaking away in the final minutes to extend the lead and earn the win.
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“We were up four, and when it started to get tight, we said this is the game we came here to play, this is the game we came here to win. We knew it was going to be highly contested,” McClain head coach Joe B. Stewart said. “The way our guys finished on the defensive end – a free throw, maybe, in the last three minutes or so, and all of the offense they had. They had one bad luck, and other than that, our defense, it really felt like, was the key.”
Hillsboro (1-3, 4-5) opened the fourth with a layup by Mason Swayne, and those points were followed by two free throws by Ethan Watson to get the Indians to within five points of McClain at 42-37.
As the Indians made their comeback, they did so with McClain’s second-leading scorer and one of the top defenders for the season Dalton Mischal on the sideline due to foul trouble. In the span Mischal was on the bench, the Indians (including points in the third frame) went on a 10-3 run.
Mischal returned to the game with four fouls with 7:01 left in regulation, and as soon as he was back in the game, he made a contribution with a steal and layup at the 6:40 mark to push the Tigers’ lead back to seven points at 44-37.
Hillsboro eventually saw Watson make three of their next four free-throw attempts to cut the Tigers’ lead to four points at 44-40 with 5:02 on the clock. With HHS seemingly gaining more and more momentum as the fourth continued, the Tigers were having no more of that, as they regained the momentum as the Indians were called for fouls and the Tigers took full advantage of their visits to the free-throw line.
Devin Carter sank two free throws for the Tigers with 4:48 left in the frame, and that began the 11-1 run to end the game. Carter later made another free throw with 3:49 on the clock, and then after taking a charge with 2:42 remaining on the scoreboard, Carter made a layup, a three-point play and Mischal followed with a free-throw make for a 53-40 advantage.
Hillsboro broke up the scoring with a free-throw conversion by Luke Magulac, but Kobe Penwell of McClain knocked down two free throws of his own to complete the Tigers’ scoring.
Mischal led the Tigers with 19 points as he finished with seven two-point baskets, one 3-pointer and went 2-for-5 from the free-throw line. Carter was next with 15 points, making five two-point baskets and was 5-of-11 from the free-throw line. Seven of his 15 points were scored in the fourth quarter.
“We needed first of all good defense down here, handling it all the way up the floor, executing it with five guys and then get what we wanted, and he surely did,” Stewart said of Carter’s fourth quarter.
Coach Stewart also spoke about Mischal’s play on Saturday.
“No secret, we expected them to zone us. We wanted to get inside of that and be really aggressive. We felt like we could get a good shot against their zone. That’s what we preach, and we got that. We also got to the back side,” he said. “(Dalton’s) athleticism showed on the offensive boards, and unfortunately for us now suddenly he’s fighting fouls and in that foul-come-out mode that’s really hard to get a rhythm out of that.”
Hillsboro was led in scoring by Swayne with 19 points, and Watson had 15 points. Swayne scored seven two-point buckets and was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Watson totaled four two-point buckets and was 7-of-9 in free-throw shooting.
The first three frames were full of toughly played basketball as well, though it was McClain who led 18-9 at the end of the first quarter as Mischal shined for the Tigers in the first eight minutes wth 12 points, including sinking a 3-pointer at the midway point of the quarter for a 10-2 Tigers lead.
Also in the first for the Tigers, Carter tacked on four points and Ethan Cockerill added two points. As for the Indians in the first, they had all nine of their points come by Swayne with six and Watson with three.
“I thought we did a really good job in the first few minutes of the game doing exactly what we wanted to do. They just killed us offensively,” Hillsboro head coach Bruce Miles said. “I thought we forced some shots early where we needed a run on offense and make them sit down and guard. We had some guys that were forcing early.
“You start to get down against a good team, and you try to make big plays, and we try to tell them to slow down, chip away at those bigger leads. I thought we did a really good job that in the second half, down 12. We kind of felt good about it, as bad as we played in the first half, to come out and only have a 12-point game and be able to get back in it in that third quarter.”
The Tigers outscored the host Indians in the second frame as well, this time at 15-12 for a halftime lead over Hillsboro of 33-21. In the second, the Tigers had balanced scoring with five players reaching the scoring column, including 3-pointers by Bryson Badgley and Cockerill. Others adding to the scoring were Garrison Banks, Carter and Mischal.
Hillsboro’s second-quarter scoring included four points from Reece Bloomfield, followed by three points each from Watson and Swayne. Adding two points was Hunter Price.
The Indians started to add pressure to the Tigers in the third, winning the frame at 12-9 as Swayne scored six points within the first three minutes of the third, as HHS cut the Tigers’ lead to 34-27 with 5:05 on the clock.
MHS answered with two points by Cockerill and a 3-pointer from Carter for a 12-point lead at the 3:11 mark of the third. Swayne followed with a layup, but a 3-pointer from Banks extended the Tigers’ lead to 13 points with 1:45 still remaining in the third frame.
HHS ended the third with two points by Watson on a put-back basket, and as time expired he added another basket in the paint as the buzzer sounded.
Other final scoring for the Indians included Bloomfield totaling four points, Price with two points and Magulac with one.
“At one point, it was a four-point game, and then they went on about a 10-point run where they put the game away where we simply came down and had some careless, out-of-control fouls. We knew that they were going to try and take a charge, and we didn’t do a good job of being fundamental,” Miles said. “We’ve got to be better in situations at the end of games where we had fought so hard. I was so proud of the guys for coming back and never quitting.
“Our guys, we’ve been through so much. There’s no doubt this team has faced adversity. They’ve fought back and done everything they could to keep it a respectable game. I’m proud of our guys and the way they fought.”
McClain also had final scoring totals which included Badgley with seven points, Cockerill and Banks with five points each, and Penwell and Reece Schluep with two points each in the game.
The Tigers finished with 15 total two-point baskets, five 3-pointers and were 10-of-17 from the free-throw line. Hillsboro totaled 13 two-point field goals, no 3-pointers and were 15-of-21 in their free throw shooting.
“They did a really good job of pressing us and making it tough for us,” Miles said. “We didn’t shoot our best tonight, and that was due to their pressure. They did a really good job. We’ve got to execute at half-court, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
In the JV game the Indians won over McClain, 31-27. HHS was led by Nick Lewis and Colton Hunter with seven points each. McClain was led in scoring by Matt Bliss wth 11 points.
The freshman game saw the Indians defeat the Tigers, 36-35. Jayse Middleton led HHS with nine points, and Preston Sanders was McClain’s leading scorer with 12 points.
Next for the Tigers is an away game on Friday, Dec. 28 at Adena High School against the Adena Warriors in non-conference play.
The Indians will play again also on Friday, Dec. 28 on the road at Blanchester in a non-conference game.
The Tigers (3-2, 6-2) and the Indians fan bases packed the Hillsboro High School gym as both sides of the rivalry were playing, cheering and coaching with much emotion as the two Highland County rivals battled on the court.
McClain led by 12 points at halftime and by nine points after three frames at 42-33, but the fourth frame is where the game became very interesting and full of excitement. Each team had players foul out, and both teams made a strong push with Hillsboro getting close to the lead to eventually see the Tigers breaking away in the final minutes to extend the lead and earn the win.
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“We were up four, and when it started to get tight, we said this is the game we came here to play, this is the game we came here to win. We knew it was going to be highly contested,” McClain head coach Joe B. Stewart said. “The way our guys finished on the defensive end – a free throw, maybe, in the last three minutes or so, and all of the offense they had. They had one bad luck, and other than that, our defense, it really felt like, was the key.”
Hillsboro (1-3, 4-5) opened the fourth with a layup by Mason Swayne, and those points were followed by two free throws by Ethan Watson to get the Indians to within five points of McClain at 42-37.
As the Indians made their comeback, they did so with McClain’s second-leading scorer and one of the top defenders for the season Dalton Mischal on the sideline due to foul trouble. In the span Mischal was on the bench, the Indians (including points in the third frame) went on a 10-3 run.
Mischal returned to the game with four fouls with 7:01 left in regulation, and as soon as he was back in the game, he made a contribution with a steal and layup at the 6:40 mark to push the Tigers’ lead back to seven points at 44-37.
Hillsboro eventually saw Watson make three of their next four free-throw attempts to cut the Tigers’ lead to four points at 44-40 with 5:02 on the clock. With HHS seemingly gaining more and more momentum as the fourth continued, the Tigers were having no more of that, as they regained the momentum as the Indians were called for fouls and the Tigers took full advantage of their visits to the free-throw line.
Devin Carter sank two free throws for the Tigers with 4:48 left in the frame, and that began the 11-1 run to end the game. Carter later made another free throw with 3:49 on the clock, and then after taking a charge with 2:42 remaining on the scoreboard, Carter made a layup, a three-point play and Mischal followed with a free-throw make for a 53-40 advantage.
Hillsboro broke up the scoring with a free-throw conversion by Luke Magulac, but Kobe Penwell of McClain knocked down two free throws of his own to complete the Tigers’ scoring.
Mischal led the Tigers with 19 points as he finished with seven two-point baskets, one 3-pointer and went 2-for-5 from the free-throw line. Carter was next with 15 points, making five two-point baskets and was 5-of-11 from the free-throw line. Seven of his 15 points were scored in the fourth quarter.
“We needed first of all good defense down here, handling it all the way up the floor, executing it with five guys and then get what we wanted, and he surely did,” Stewart said of Carter’s fourth quarter.
Coach Stewart also spoke about Mischal’s play on Saturday.
“No secret, we expected them to zone us. We wanted to get inside of that and be really aggressive. We felt like we could get a good shot against their zone. That’s what we preach, and we got that. We also got to the back side,” he said. “(Dalton’s) athleticism showed on the offensive boards, and unfortunately for us now suddenly he’s fighting fouls and in that foul-come-out mode that’s really hard to get a rhythm out of that.”
Hillsboro was led in scoring by Swayne with 19 points, and Watson had 15 points. Swayne scored seven two-point buckets and was 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. Watson totaled four two-point buckets and was 7-of-9 in free-throw shooting.
The first three frames were full of toughly played basketball as well, though it was McClain who led 18-9 at the end of the first quarter as Mischal shined for the Tigers in the first eight minutes wth 12 points, including sinking a 3-pointer at the midway point of the quarter for a 10-2 Tigers lead.
Also in the first for the Tigers, Carter tacked on four points and Ethan Cockerill added two points. As for the Indians in the first, they had all nine of their points come by Swayne with six and Watson with three.
“I thought we did a really good job in the first few minutes of the game doing exactly what we wanted to do. They just killed us offensively,” Hillsboro head coach Bruce Miles said. “I thought we forced some shots early where we needed a run on offense and make them sit down and guard. We had some guys that were forcing early.
“You start to get down against a good team, and you try to make big plays, and we try to tell them to slow down, chip away at those bigger leads. I thought we did a really good job that in the second half, down 12. We kind of felt good about it, as bad as we played in the first half, to come out and only have a 12-point game and be able to get back in it in that third quarter.”
The Tigers outscored the host Indians in the second frame as well, this time at 15-12 for a halftime lead over Hillsboro of 33-21. In the second, the Tigers had balanced scoring with five players reaching the scoring column, including 3-pointers by Bryson Badgley and Cockerill. Others adding to the scoring were Garrison Banks, Carter and Mischal.
Hillsboro’s second-quarter scoring included four points from Reece Bloomfield, followed by three points each from Watson and Swayne. Adding two points was Hunter Price.
The Indians started to add pressure to the Tigers in the third, winning the frame at 12-9 as Swayne scored six points within the first three minutes of the third, as HHS cut the Tigers’ lead to 34-27 with 5:05 on the clock.
MHS answered with two points by Cockerill and a 3-pointer from Carter for a 12-point lead at the 3:11 mark of the third. Swayne followed with a layup, but a 3-pointer from Banks extended the Tigers’ lead to 13 points with 1:45 still remaining in the third frame.
HHS ended the third with two points by Watson on a put-back basket, and as time expired he added another basket in the paint as the buzzer sounded.
Other final scoring for the Indians included Bloomfield totaling four points, Price with two points and Magulac with one.
“At one point, it was a four-point game, and then they went on about a 10-point run where they put the game away where we simply came down and had some careless, out-of-control fouls. We knew that they were going to try and take a charge, and we didn’t do a good job of being fundamental,” Miles said. “We’ve got to be better in situations at the end of games where we had fought so hard. I was so proud of the guys for coming back and never quitting.
“Our guys, we’ve been through so much. There’s no doubt this team has faced adversity. They’ve fought back and done everything they could to keep it a respectable game. I’m proud of our guys and the way they fought.”
McClain also had final scoring totals which included Badgley with seven points, Cockerill and Banks with five points each, and Penwell and Reece Schluep with two points each in the game.
The Tigers finished with 15 total two-point baskets, five 3-pointers and were 10-of-17 from the free-throw line. Hillsboro totaled 13 two-point field goals, no 3-pointers and were 15-of-21 in their free throw shooting.
“They did a really good job of pressing us and making it tough for us,” Miles said. “We didn’t shoot our best tonight, and that was due to their pressure. They did a really good job. We’ve got to execute at half-court, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
In the JV game the Indians won over McClain, 31-27. HHS was led by Nick Lewis and Colton Hunter with seven points each. McClain was led in scoring by Matt Bliss wth 11 points.
The freshman game saw the Indians defeat the Tigers, 36-35. Jayse Middleton led HHS with nine points, and Preston Sanders was McClain’s leading scorer with 12 points.
Next for the Tigers is an away game on Friday, Dec. 28 at Adena High School against the Adena Warriors in non-conference play.
The Indians will play again also on Friday, Dec. 28 on the road at Blanchester in a non-conference game.