Defense leads McClain to Highland County win over Fairfield
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
GREENFIELD — Defense was the name of the game for the McClain Tigers on Saturday night. With their defense, the Tigers earned bragging rights against their Highland County counterpart Fairfield for a year, as they used stifling defense to defeat the Lions by a 42-34 score.
In front of their hometown fans, the Tigers (6-2) may have had some issues scoring points in the first three frames as they trailed by a 23-22 score, but there was the fact the defense of the Tigers was on target and held a solid Lions team to under 30 points in the first three frames.
The fourth quarter saw the Tigers continue their strong defensive effort, as the Lions didn’t make a shot from the field until there was 1:25 left in regulation, and for McClain, their on-target shooting from the free-throw line was the difference on the scoreboard in the final eight minutes of action.
“This was a good old southern Ohio, blue-collar basketball game,” McClain head coach Joe B. Stewart said. “It was one where if we’d won by one, I’d be plenty happy right now, but the fact of the matter was down the stretch, especially, we were real pleased with our kids obviously stepping up with the game on the line and sinking a bunch of free throws. If we don’t make free throws, we don’t win, and the guys made free throws. We certainly, as always, really, really worked at it. It’s something we needed to improve, and tonight it won the basketball game.
“In a style-over-substance world, we need to be about the substance of being really good defensively to win a basketball game. Try as hard as you might, no, I can’t talk about an individual who picked up our defense, because frankly there were times where everybody did. I believe four of their 18 turnovers were five-second calls. Our kids just did a super job — kids, plural, because it wasn’t one — guarding the basketball and making every trip really, really hard.”
McClain started what became a 20-point fourth frame with a jumper by Bryson Badgley — who led McClain with 11 points — less than 30 seconds into the frame. The defense of the Tigers amped up their play even more by forcing a Fairfield travel, then back-to-back 5-second violations, followed by a block to keep the Lions from adding points to their total.
McClain came back with a layup by Camden Closson at the 4:25 mark of the fourth for a 26-23 advantage, and not much later Closson scored two points with the assist from Wesley Potts — who also led McClain with eight rebounds — as he rebounded a missed free throw by Closson, then found Closson, who put the ball through the hoop.
“Camden off the bench was one of the keys to the Trace game, and it was one of the keys to this one as well,” Stewart said. “He made good decisions with the basketball, took it when it was there, and when he goes to the free-throw line, frankly, knowing who he is and what he’s made of, he’s a kid with a pretty strong inner voice that says ‘hey, I can do this.’ His play was really, really critical tonight.”
Fairfield’s first points of the fourth frame came from the free-throw line with Jon Bentley sinking one free throw and Brayden Zimmerman converting both chances from the charity stripe, cutting the Tigers’ lead to two points at 28-26 with 3:55 left on the clock.
McClain was fouled and sent Badgley to the free-throw line, where he promptly sank both opportunities to put MHS back in front by four points. McClain called a timeout with 2:26 remaining in regulation and 10 seconds later added another point off a Badgley shot from the free-throw line. A layup by Braden Wright gave McClain a seven-point advantage.
The Lions called a timeout with 1:46 on the scoreboard — following the aforementioned basket by the host Tigers — and 21 seconds later found Tytis Cannon with a clutch 3-pointer for Fairfield at the 1:25 mark of the fourth quarter. Fairfield regained possession of the ball following a jump ball call in their favor, and it was Cannon with a made free throw to make it a three-point deficit for Fairfield.
McClain’s offense stepped up big with a Badgley layup with less than a minute to play, but the Lions continued to roar back with two made free throws by Bentley, for a 35-32 score still in favor of the Tigers.
MHS ended back up at the free-throw line when Kendyll Toney grabbed the rebound, where he was fouled with 31.3 left in the game. Toney sank both pressure-packed attempts from the charity stripe. MHS was fouled twice more where Closson and Toney each made two more free throws, putting the Tiger lead at 42-32 with 11.5 left in regulation. Toney finished with nine points, while Closson totaled eight points in the win.
Fairfield (3-3) scored one last bucket at the buzzer when Connor Priest put the ball through the hoop as the final buzzer sounded, with MHS winning by eight points in the Highland County showdown.
“The boys’ defensive effort, they played their guts out. There’s no question about it. Hats off to Greenfield, their on-the-ball pressure is pretty darn solid,” FHS head coach Josh Howland said. “They get right up in you, and it’s hard to even look up and dribble, let alone find an open guy, and that got us I think with maybe three five-second calls. It was enough to where it had our point guards rattled.
“We were [leading] all the way through the third quarter, and that’s where Greenfield played a full game and we played three and a half quarters of solid basketball. The last half, that fourth quarter, we let up and they didn’t let up. They kept fighting, so you’ve got to play it all the way through.”
The first quarter saw Fairfield lead 11-8 at the end of the first frame as the score was tied four times, up to 8-8 when a jumper from Badgley tied the score with 49 seconds left in the first quarter. Fairfield took the lead at the end of the first frame with a 3-pointer by Priest at the buzzer for the three-point advantage.
FHS held the lead at the end of the second quarter as well with a 19-15 advantage, concluding a first half where the Tigers unofficially had seven rebounds and the Lions grabbed 16 rebounds in the first two quarters.
The third quarter saw the Lions held to just four points, while McClain came out of the locker room to score seven points for a 23-22 score in favor of the Lions, McClain took the lead in the third frame following a free throw by Preston Saunders, and then a basket in the paint by Potts, as he was left wide open for the two-point basket with 4:52 left in the quarter for a 20-19 lead.
McClain reached the free-throw line as the quarter continued, where Saunders sank two shots, but the final two baskets of the third frame were both made by the Lions as Bentley and Koben Zink each scored two points to put the Lions up by one point going into the fourth and final frame.
Unofficially, the Lions out-rebounded the Tigers, 30-17. The Tigers had just five turnovers in the win.
“It was one where we got decent shots at the rim. [Fairfield] played awfully, awfully hard and had a certain script they needed to follow to come in here and play well and have a chance to beat us, and for the most part they did what they needed to do,” Stewart said. “To our kids’ credit, so did we, and this is a humble one for us because we still obviously have things we’re working on every single day.
“My dad said ‘satisfaction is the enemy of improvement.’ We’ll be satisfied, maybe, come March, but each and every day, we’re here to get better. The thing on our sweatshirt is ‘deserve victory daily.’ and that’s our lone goal.”
Other final scoring for McClain included Saunders (six points), Lyle White (two points) and Potts (four points). MHS finished with 14 two-point baskets, and were 14-of-21 from the free-throw line.
Zimmerman led the Lions with eight points, followed by Reese Teeters with six points and eight rebounds. Also for Fairfield, Bentley (who collected seven rebounds) and Priest each scored five points, while Cannon and Tucker Watson each scored four points, as Watson added seven rebounds to his overall totals. Rounding out the FHS scoring was Zink with two points. MHS finished with 11 two-point baskets, two 3-pointers (Zimmerman, Priest) and were 6-of-8 from the free-throw line.
“We’ve got to have somebody, a few guys, that’s willing to score the ball,” Howland said. “The thing is, we’ve got nine guys on varsity, and they all practice so hard, you’ve got to play them in a game, and they deserve it. Any of them can step in and have a good night on any given night. We can’t take that lightly.
“We ended up with 34 points, and I’d say every one of those points were earned. They weren’t given to us. They were earned. [The Tigers] definitely make you work for it, there’s no question about it. They did a great job from the free-throw line tonight, and that’s how you win close ball games. You make your free throws. We always want to beat anyone in the county because you’ve got to see them for the rest of your lives, and that’s part of the fun of it, I guess. It definitely will make us better for our league play, for the SHAC.”
Next for McClain is another Highland County rivalry game Tuesday, Jan. 5 against Whiteoak at McClain High School.
The Lions play again on the road Tuesday, Jan. 5 in a Southern Hills Athletic Conference game at Fayetteville.
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In front of their hometown fans, the Tigers (6-2) may have had some issues scoring points in the first three frames as they trailed by a 23-22 score, but there was the fact the defense of the Tigers was on target and held a solid Lions team to under 30 points in the first three frames.
The fourth quarter saw the Tigers continue their strong defensive effort, as the Lions didn’t make a shot from the field until there was 1:25 left in regulation, and for McClain, their on-target shooting from the free-throw line was the difference on the scoreboard in the final eight minutes of action.
“This was a good old southern Ohio, blue-collar basketball game,” McClain head coach Joe B. Stewart said. “It was one where if we’d won by one, I’d be plenty happy right now, but the fact of the matter was down the stretch, especially, we were real pleased with our kids obviously stepping up with the game on the line and sinking a bunch of free throws. If we don’t make free throws, we don’t win, and the guys made free throws. We certainly, as always, really, really worked at it. It’s something we needed to improve, and tonight it won the basketball game.
“In a style-over-substance world, we need to be about the substance of being really good defensively to win a basketball game. Try as hard as you might, no, I can’t talk about an individual who picked up our defense, because frankly there were times where everybody did. I believe four of their 18 turnovers were five-second calls. Our kids just did a super job — kids, plural, because it wasn’t one — guarding the basketball and making every trip really, really hard.”
McClain started what became a 20-point fourth frame with a jumper by Bryson Badgley — who led McClain with 11 points — less than 30 seconds into the frame. The defense of the Tigers amped up their play even more by forcing a Fairfield travel, then back-to-back 5-second violations, followed by a block to keep the Lions from adding points to their total.
McClain came back with a layup by Camden Closson at the 4:25 mark of the fourth for a 26-23 advantage, and not much later Closson scored two points with the assist from Wesley Potts — who also led McClain with eight rebounds — as he rebounded a missed free throw by Closson, then found Closson, who put the ball through the hoop.
“Camden off the bench was one of the keys to the Trace game, and it was one of the keys to this one as well,” Stewart said. “He made good decisions with the basketball, took it when it was there, and when he goes to the free-throw line, frankly, knowing who he is and what he’s made of, he’s a kid with a pretty strong inner voice that says ‘hey, I can do this.’ His play was really, really critical tonight.”
Fairfield’s first points of the fourth frame came from the free-throw line with Jon Bentley sinking one free throw and Brayden Zimmerman converting both chances from the charity stripe, cutting the Tigers’ lead to two points at 28-26 with 3:55 left on the clock.
McClain was fouled and sent Badgley to the free-throw line, where he promptly sank both opportunities to put MHS back in front by four points. McClain called a timeout with 2:26 remaining in regulation and 10 seconds later added another point off a Badgley shot from the free-throw line. A layup by Braden Wright gave McClain a seven-point advantage.
The Lions called a timeout with 1:46 on the scoreboard — following the aforementioned basket by the host Tigers — and 21 seconds later found Tytis Cannon with a clutch 3-pointer for Fairfield at the 1:25 mark of the fourth quarter. Fairfield regained possession of the ball following a jump ball call in their favor, and it was Cannon with a made free throw to make it a three-point deficit for Fairfield.
McClain’s offense stepped up big with a Badgley layup with less than a minute to play, but the Lions continued to roar back with two made free throws by Bentley, for a 35-32 score still in favor of the Tigers.
MHS ended back up at the free-throw line when Kendyll Toney grabbed the rebound, where he was fouled with 31.3 left in the game. Toney sank both pressure-packed attempts from the charity stripe. MHS was fouled twice more where Closson and Toney each made two more free throws, putting the Tiger lead at 42-32 with 11.5 left in regulation. Toney finished with nine points, while Closson totaled eight points in the win.
Fairfield (3-3) scored one last bucket at the buzzer when Connor Priest put the ball through the hoop as the final buzzer sounded, with MHS winning by eight points in the Highland County showdown.
“The boys’ defensive effort, they played their guts out. There’s no question about it. Hats off to Greenfield, their on-the-ball pressure is pretty darn solid,” FHS head coach Josh Howland said. “They get right up in you, and it’s hard to even look up and dribble, let alone find an open guy, and that got us I think with maybe three five-second calls. It was enough to where it had our point guards rattled.
“We were [leading] all the way through the third quarter, and that’s where Greenfield played a full game and we played three and a half quarters of solid basketball. The last half, that fourth quarter, we let up and they didn’t let up. They kept fighting, so you’ve got to play it all the way through.”
The first quarter saw Fairfield lead 11-8 at the end of the first frame as the score was tied four times, up to 8-8 when a jumper from Badgley tied the score with 49 seconds left in the first quarter. Fairfield took the lead at the end of the first frame with a 3-pointer by Priest at the buzzer for the three-point advantage.
FHS held the lead at the end of the second quarter as well with a 19-15 advantage, concluding a first half where the Tigers unofficially had seven rebounds and the Lions grabbed 16 rebounds in the first two quarters.
The third quarter saw the Lions held to just four points, while McClain came out of the locker room to score seven points for a 23-22 score in favor of the Lions, McClain took the lead in the third frame following a free throw by Preston Saunders, and then a basket in the paint by Potts, as he was left wide open for the two-point basket with 4:52 left in the quarter for a 20-19 lead.
McClain reached the free-throw line as the quarter continued, where Saunders sank two shots, but the final two baskets of the third frame were both made by the Lions as Bentley and Koben Zink each scored two points to put the Lions up by one point going into the fourth and final frame.
Unofficially, the Lions out-rebounded the Tigers, 30-17. The Tigers had just five turnovers in the win.
“It was one where we got decent shots at the rim. [Fairfield] played awfully, awfully hard and had a certain script they needed to follow to come in here and play well and have a chance to beat us, and for the most part they did what they needed to do,” Stewart said. “To our kids’ credit, so did we, and this is a humble one for us because we still obviously have things we’re working on every single day.
“My dad said ‘satisfaction is the enemy of improvement.’ We’ll be satisfied, maybe, come March, but each and every day, we’re here to get better. The thing on our sweatshirt is ‘deserve victory daily.’ and that’s our lone goal.”
Other final scoring for McClain included Saunders (six points), Lyle White (two points) and Potts (four points). MHS finished with 14 two-point baskets, and were 14-of-21 from the free-throw line.
Zimmerman led the Lions with eight points, followed by Reese Teeters with six points and eight rebounds. Also for Fairfield, Bentley (who collected seven rebounds) and Priest each scored five points, while Cannon and Tucker Watson each scored four points, as Watson added seven rebounds to his overall totals. Rounding out the FHS scoring was Zink with two points. MHS finished with 11 two-point baskets, two 3-pointers (Zimmerman, Priest) and were 6-of-8 from the free-throw line.
“We’ve got to have somebody, a few guys, that’s willing to score the ball,” Howland said. “The thing is, we’ve got nine guys on varsity, and they all practice so hard, you’ve got to play them in a game, and they deserve it. Any of them can step in and have a good night on any given night. We can’t take that lightly.
“We ended up with 34 points, and I’d say every one of those points were earned. They weren’t given to us. They were earned. [The Tigers] definitely make you work for it, there’s no question about it. They did a great job from the free-throw line tonight, and that’s how you win close ball games. You make your free throws. We always want to beat anyone in the county because you’ve got to see them for the rest of your lives, and that’s part of the fun of it, I guess. It definitely will make us better for our league play, for the SHAC.”
Next for McClain is another Highland County rivalry game Tuesday, Jan. 5 against Whiteoak at McClain High School.
The Lions play again on the road Tuesday, Jan. 5 in a Southern Hills Athletic Conference game at Fayetteville.
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