Roberts totals 11 blocks as Lynchburg-Clay outlasts McClain in Highland County slugfest 

DODSONVILLE — Lynchburg-Clay head coach Kyle Pertuset may have said it best following the game when describing Lynchburg-Clay’s 53-50 win over the visiting McClain Tigers Tuesday evening: “I felt like our teams kept exchanging punches.” 

If that was the case, then consider this for old-school boxing fans Thomas Hearns vs. Marvin Hagler because this game was, in fact, a punch-for-punch exchange that went down to the buzzer. McClain had the last opportunity to tie the score, but it wasn’t in the books for the Tigers, as Tuesday belonged to the Mustangs in their season opener. 

“They made a run early, we made a run. I thought our teams kept exchanging punches,” Pertuset said. “Just as soon as you thought we were going to pull out a little bit, we got up six or seven points, they would do the same, and the game never got out of reach for either team. It was just a great high school basketball game.”

A rare occurrence for high school basketball was the fact the Mustangs saw 6-5 sophomore Tanner Roberts finish with 11 blocked shots in the win, as each quarter he was in the air swatting away attempted shots by the Tigers, including one stand under the hoop where he made three consecutive stops in the second half. 

“It is really nice to have a presence like Tanner clean it up at the glass,” Pertuset said. “It really allows the guys to pressure more on the front end if we know we have somebody to protect the rim.”

Roberts finished with a double-double, as the sophomore finished with 14 points, 11 blocks, eight rebounds, two assists and he even added in a steal to his night on Lynchburg-Clay’s season opener. Roberts finished with five two-point baskets and was 4-of-6 from the free-throw line. 

LCHS (1-0) also had 11 points from Denver Clinton, who made four baskets from the field, plus he made three free throws, all while adding seven rebounds, four assists and one block.

McClain (1-1) was led by Jordan Bell with 20 points. Bell finished the game with one two-point baskets and made five 3-pointers, plus he was 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. 

The Tigers also had 15 points from Connor Chandler, who scored 11 of his 15 points in a very strong second frame, including making three 3-pointers in the quarter. Chandler also made three two-point baskets in the game.

McClain head coach Jarrod Haines spoke about the game, including a second quarter where the Tigers struggled to make baskets, but spoke highly of Bell and his overall game. 

“We just didn’t knock down shots, and we didn’t take care of the basketball in the second quarter,” Haines said. “That came back and haunted us. I thought Jordan Bell put us on his back and made some big shots for us to keep us in the game. Connor Chandler stepped up as well. 

“Lynchburg-Clay has some great athletes. They are long and athletic, and I think that bothered us, especially when they pressed, but once we figured it out, I think we were fine. When you have a big kid inside like they do and who can block shots, it is very effective for sure.”

This game, the best place to start was at the beginning where the Tigers led by five points to start the contest, as Hudson Lovett and Bell scored the first five points of the game, including the first 3-pointer of five by Bell. 

The Tigers consistently held the lead in the first frame, eventually taking a seven-point lead with 2:20 on the clock as Bell sank his second trey of quarter for a 14-7 MHS advantage. Bell also made a two-point basket in the opening frame, while Lovett and Elijah Storer also added points for the Tigers in the first quarter as it ended with the Tigers ahead 14-8. 

Lynchburg-Clay’s first frame saw them have a 3-pointer from Trevor Niehaus, two-point buckets scored by Quin Wells and Harley Lewis, and a free throw made by Clinton. 

The intensity of the game picked up in the second frame with each team scoring 17 points in the quarter, leaving McClain ahead 31-25 at halftime. 

The game of runs that saw McClain score quickly to start the game in the first frame, continued in the early stages of the second quarter, but this time it was Lynchburg-Clay who had the momentum. The Mustangs began the second quarter with a basket from Roberts, as that was the start of nine straight points scored by LCHS, putting them from trailing by six points to leading by four with 5:48 on the clock. 

The run continued with a steal and layup from Linkin Barnett, and from there it was consecutive points scored by Clinton, Niehaus and Roberts that lifted the Mustangs into the lead at 18-14. 

Then it was McClain’s turn to have a scoring run, making the next four baskets, as all the points were scored by Chandler, who scored two points in the paint, then followed with three consecutive 3-pointers all in a span from the 4:35 mark of the second to the 2:12 mark, putting the Tigers ahead 25-18, as MHS went from trailing by four points to holding a seven-point lead. 

After that run, Lynchburg-Clay scored five straight points, then it was the Tigers having a five-point run of their own — all from the free-throw line — for a 30-23 lead by the Tigers with 1:03 left in the first half. 

The frantic second quarter ended with a layup by Lynchburg-Clay’s Lewis, only to be answered with a free throw from McClain’s Brady Binegar (who left the game in the second half with an injury following a hard fall) for a halftime score of 31-25. 

After each team took a deep breath following two hectic quarters of basketball, they were back at to start the third frame, and this quarter saw the Mustangs outscore McClain 16-5 for a 41-36 lead when the quarter closed. 

LCHS scored the first four points of the quarter with two buckets made by Roberts, then Bell answered with a 3-pointer for MHS, making it a two-point lead for the Tigers at 34-32 with 3:02 left in the third. 

Barnett came back with a 3-pointer at the 2:40 mark for a 35-34 LCHS lead, and the final two points of the quarter for MHS came with two made free throws by Lovett at the 2:23 mark for a one-point Tiger lead at 36-35. 

The Mustangs put the final stamp on the third frame with six points in the final 1:55 of the third off two baskets by Clinton, and a 3-pointer from Faust for a five-point Mustangs lead after three quarters. 

Though the Tigers won the fourth frame by outscoring the Mustangs 14-12 in the fourth, it wasn’t enough to gain the win, even with McClain holding late in the fourth quarter. 

As the two teams stepped onto the court to start the fourth quarter the season opener had more of a big tournament feel as the aggressiveness of the game picked up more with Bell taking a charge to start things off in the final frame. 

That change of possession led to the Tigers scoring two points off a basket by Chandler, pushing the Tigers’ lead to three points. The game continued to see the Mustangs hold the lead by no more than five points on multiple occasions as the two teams kept exchanging baskets and free throws. 

The Mustangs kept the lead until there was 2:06 left in the fourth as back-to-back 3-pointers from Bell put McClain in front at 50-49. Following a timeout, with 2:00 left in regulation, the two teams continued to battle, and with 1:10 left in the game it was a layup by Roberts which lifted the Mustangs into the lead at 51-50. 

LCHS added two final points with 17.1 off free throws made by Faust. MHS had an opportunity to tie the game, but defense by the Mustangs kept the hosts in the lead as the final buzzer sounded on the Highland County showdown. 

“I just felt like we persevered, we hung in there, and we stayed the course,” Pertuset said. “We didn't turn on each other mentally, and we were able to stay in control, keep our eyes on the prize which was trying to find a way to win. Last year we had a lot of close games, and one of those games was over at their place, and we didn’t always handle situational basketball really well down the stretch. 

“I knew a lot of games this year are going to come down to the same thing. We return a decent amount of varsity experience, albeit we have some younger guys playing some expanded roles, but we have a pretty good blend of guys who have played a decent amount of upper-level basketball. One of our emphases was to improve on that, and tonight the proof is that we did, because we were able to grind out a win.”

Other totals for the Mustangs included Faust with nine points, seven rebounds, two assists and four steals. Niehaus ended the game with eight points, three rebounds, two assists and four steals. Barnett of LCHS had seven points and one rebound, and rounding out the scoring were Wells and Lewis with two points each. Wells also had one rebound, three assists and one steal, while Lewis collected one steal. 

“I felt like first-year varsity player, sophomore Linkin Barnett, really came in and gave us a defensive spark,” Pertuset said. “He shot the basketball with confidence. He played predominantly freshman basketball last year. For him to have the confidence is good to see. We had a snow day today, and I come in today and I walk into the gym around 1 p.m. and he’s in here shooting, so big shoutout to him and everybody off the bench. 

“Caden Boone got in for a little bit and did things the right way and gave us a spark. I’m just proud of the whole team. Even the ones who didn’t get in had great bench energy.”

Team totals for the Mustangs were 17 two-point baskets, three 3-pointers, and they were 10-of-22 from the free-throw line. LCHS also totaled 27 rebounds (nine offensive), 13 assists, 11 steals and 12 blocks, plus they had 12 turnovers. 

For McClain, final scoring totals also included Binegar (1), Lovett (6), Matthew Cummins (2), Kolton Lamb (2) and Storer (4). 

“We know that we are young and inexperienced, and coming on the road to a team like Lynchburg who have a couple upperclassmen and a couple good underclassmen, we’ve got to get better than we have,” Haines said. “We’ve got to give everything we have every time we step onto the floor and my guys did that for sure. The other things will come with time. 

“We have to have hats off to Jordan Bell and being a senior leader out there, knocking down some big shots. I thought when he did that, things were going really well for us, and it seemed like it was contagious.” 

Team totals for the Tigers were nine two-point baskets, eight 3-pointers, and they were 8-of-12 from the free-throw line with 19 turnovers. 

Next for the Mustangs is a home Southern Hills Athletic Conference game on Friday, Dec. 5 as they will host the Eastern Warriors at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Mustangs are scheduled to host the Minford Falcons with a varsity tip-off scheduled for 4 p.m. 

“We have Eastern on Friday and Minford on Saturday so we really need to get off to a good start because if you look at our first five games, and our whole schedule honestly, and there is nothing easy,” Pertuset said. 

The Tigers are scheduled to play next on Saturday, Dec. 6 in another Highland County battle, this time against the Whiteoak Wildcats with a 6 p.m. JV tip-off. 

BOX SCORE
MHS      14 17 05 14 — 50
LCHS    08 17 16 12 — 53

LYNCHBURG-CLAY (53) — Q.Wells 1 (0) 0-0 2, E.Faust 1 (1) 2-4 7, L.Barnett 2 (1) 0-0 7, T.Niehaus 2 (1) 1-4 8, T.Roberts 5 (0) 4-6 14, D.Clinton 4 (0) 3-8 11, H.Lewis 2 (0) 0-0 4. TOTALS: 17 (3) 10-22 53. 

MCCLAIN (50) — B.Binegar 0 (0) 1-2 1, J.Bell 1 (5) 3-4 20, C.Chandler 3 (3) 0-0 15, H.Lovett 2 (0) 2-4 6, M.Cummins 1 (0) 0-0 2, K.Lamb 0 (0) 2-2 2, E.Storer 2 (0) 0-0 4. TOTALS: 9 (8) 8-12 50.