Mustangs earn 15th victory; top Indians

DODSONVILLE — Though the Hillsboro Indians gave the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs all they could handle in the opening frame, the Mustangs regrouped, and from the 3:29 mark of the first quarter until the final buzzer sounded, LC fended off every effort thrown to them by the visiting Indians.

That said, the Mustangs controlled the pace of the game from the second through fourth frames and did what they needed to do to fend off the Indians, and though both teams had to overcome various aspects of the game, LC glided to a 73-58 win Tuesday night.

The win was the 15th win of the season by the Mustangs, and even though this was a non-conference game for LC, they gained some help in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference standings as Eastern Brown defeated the Peebles Indians on Tuesday, pushing LC in front of the Division I SHAC standings with a 10-1 conference mark, while Peebles fell to 7-2 in the SHAC. Those two teams will square off on Friday, Feb. 12 at PHS with most likely the SHAC championship on the line.

As for the game for bragging rights Tuesday against the Indians, the Mustangs trailed Hillsboro, 16-13 at the conclusion of the first quarter.

LC was first to score with points from Eric McLaughlin (who finished with 14 points), but HHS answered with points from Matthew Ryan and D.J. Brown to take the lead. LC regained the lead with a 3-pointer by Devin Pierson, who led all scorers with 28 points, with this trey coming from the corner of the court with 5:16 left on the first-quarter clock.

Pierson was 8-of-9 from the free-throw line, and he also connected a total of four times from beyond the arc.

“Devin has had some big scoring games lately with totals of 19, 29, 17 and 28 our last four games,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Matt Carson said. “They've been very efficient games, and he’ll look for people first when he’s driving with the ball. I think that’s when we are at our best is when we can get him lanes to drive and he can score or create.

“Our guys as a group are just very unselfish with the basketball. They root for each other, and we know the task ahead of us, and we just want to get as good as we can the next two weeks and take that momentum into the tournament.”

Phillip Mycroft took back the lead for HHS with two points, and as the first frame continued, HHS held the lead until LC scored five straight points from Zach Blankenship and Josh Ahrmann for a lead of 11-7 with 3:39 on the first-quarter clock. Blankenship totaled 17 points for LC in the win.

HHS answered with points from Mycroft and Brown, tying the score at 11 at the 1:46 mark of the first quarter. Joe Giordano pushed the Mustangs back in front with a layup, but the Indians scored the final five points of the first with a three-point play by Cameron Reed and a two-point bucket by Brown for the 16-13 lead.

Mycroft led the Indians with 17 points, and Brown was right with his teammate, finishing with 16 points.

“Being a county rivalry game and all … I have to hand it to our kids, we’ve had a tough past week, and the energy and fight in our guys for four quarters, I can’t be more proud of them,” HHS head coach Bruce Miles said. “We are outmanned in about every position, and those guys battled all night, and I’m extremely proud of the fight my guys showed tonight.”

The second quarter went in favor of the host Mustangs, outscoring the Indians, 26-6, and changing the complexion of the entire game.

In the second, LC tied the score at 18-18 with a 3-pointer from Christian Inman with 3:55 on the clock and took the lead for good at the 3:29 mark of the second with a layup and free throw on a three-point play by Blankenship to gain a 21-18 lead.

From the 1:09 mark of the second until the clock struck all zeroes, LC went on a 14-0 run, including three 3-pointers, a four-point play (on an intentional foul) and two more free throws for a 39-22 lead. The final points of the quarter came with Pierson sinking a 3-pointer from the corner, while falling to the ground with the buzzer sounding.

“We went on a defensive run near the end of the second where we didn’t give up a lot of points, and our guys played with good effort … the effort is always there,” Carson said. “This is a resilient group of kids, and they will play their heart out.

“I told them in the locker room, the execution at times could have been better. We are a team that likes to get up and down the floor, but we have to execute in a quarter-court situation. Some games we execute in the quarter-court against the zone, and some games we don’t … however, I thought we made better decisions in the second half, as opposed to the first half. It is stuff we’ll continue to work on. At the end of the day, you have to hit shots, and we hit shots, and we got Hillsboro to get into a running game with us.”

After the break, the Indians won the third frame at 14-10 with Brown sinking a 3-pointer and scoring five points in the quarter. Mycroft added two points in the third, and Logan Kibler scored five of his 10 total points in the third quarter.

“Phillip, D.J. and Logan played well and had a good game,” Miles said. “They played with energy, and we got the ball into the post in the first quarter and (LC) had to go to the zone. They got us out of our flow when they did that, and it showed in the second quarter, and it hurt our momentum.”

The defense kind of went to the wayside in the final eight minutes with LC outscoring the Indians, 24-22. Reed, Kibler, Brown and Mycroft all added points to the HHS side of the scoreboard, and for the Mustangs, Josh Goble, Blankenship, McLaughlin, Pierson and River Mullins all scored points in the fourth.

McLaughlin scored eight points in the fourth, including two 3-pointers, and Pierson tallied seven points with a 5-of-5 total from the free-throw line in the quarter, along with a two-point basket. Blankenship was 4-of-4 from the line in the final quarter and 7-of-10 for the game.

Hillsboro’s fourth frame included a 3-pointer from Reed, who scored six of his nine total points in the final eight minutes of play. Kibler scored five points in the fourth, while Brown also added five points, and Mycroft tallied six points in the frame.

For the game, HHS was 6-of-15 from the free-throw line, and LC went 18-of-26.

“Hats off to Hillsboro and Coach Miles,” Carson said. “We knew what they were coming off against Wilmington, and they are better than their record. Their record doesn’t reflect what type of team they are. They have a tough schedule and have played a lot of teams close. If teams take them lightly, they will come up and bite somebody. Coach Miles does a great job there, and I think the future is bright for Hillsboro basketball.”

In JV play, LC defeated the Indians, 56-45. LC was led by Brian Lampkin with 23 points, and for the Indians, Josh Keets led with 19 points. HHS won the freshman game, but stats were not available.

The Mustangs are back in action Wednesday night when they take on another Highland County rival in the Whiteoak Wildcats at WHS. The Indians will have a rivalry game on Friday night when they face the McClain Tigers at HHS.

“We have (McClain) on Friday … we are extremely excited about the opportunity to play our rival again, in front of our home fans,” Miles said. “Our kids are already talking about it, and we are putting all of our focus and energy to coming out and getting the job done Friday.”