Whiteoak surges past Lynchburg-Clay in second half for win
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — There is always something a little extra special when the Whiteoak Wildcats and Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs face each other in a battle of Highland County. This year was no different as both teams played with great effort, but in the end it was the home team Wildcats who propelled themselves to victory by a 71-54 score, Tuesday at WHS.
From the very start both teams played with intensity, but in two different stints of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference game the Wildcats took control, which allowed them to break away from the visiting Mustangs en route to the victory, their second of the season in three games played.
“This was a total change from how we played on Saturday (a Whiteoak loss),” WHS head coach Ryan Barnett said. “Saturday we didn’t play very hard, and on Monday we came in and had an intense practice and the kids bought into it. We had a heart-to-heart and said ‘listen, we can lose like that all season, or you can come out and put everything on the line and come out with a win.’
“That’s what they did tonight.”
The Wildcats (2-1) and Mustangs played a close first frame, but it was Whiteoak who led at the conclusion of the first frame by a 24-17 score. Early on in the first frame, it was the Mustangs who were the leaders, with Logan Shope putting Lynchburg-Clay in front at 6-5 with a three-point play at the 5:46 mark of the frame.
From there, LCHS sank a 3-pointer at the 5:12 mark of the first, only to see Whiteoak answer with a trey of their own by Landon Barnett, as he tied the score at 9-9 with 4:35 on the clock. Eventually Whiteoak led by a 14-11 score with Nick Bailey gaining the rebound and putting the ball through the hoop.
Barnett finished the game with 26 points, and Bailey finished next in the scoring column with 13 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.
“I told Nick in the locker room this was the best I’ve ever seen him play,” Barnett said. “He’s a total game changer when he decides to play. He played well tonight, and we’ve talked and he said he’s going to give it everything he’s got. It showed tonight.”
The first frame continued with team Brady Chisman sinking a 3-pointer at the top of the key for a 15-14 Mustang advantage, only to see Whiteoak answer with points from Barnett and Hogan Walker for a lead of 16-15. Walker finished the game with 10 points, while Chisman finished with 15 points to lead LCHS in the scoring column.
“Hogan busted his tail off tonight, but he’s undersized game in and game out and he just banged and banged and did what we wanted to do,” Barnett said. “He has big shoes to fill, and he’s filling them just fine.”
LC (0-1) had two free throws late in the first from Shope, but the ending of the quarter belonged to Barnett with the sophomore sinking a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left in the opening frame, then he repeated the feat at the buzzer with another trifecta for the 24-17 WHS lead after one quarter.
“There were a couple times, including closing out the first quarter and then a couple two-minute stretches in the second and third quarters, and that was the difference in the ball game,” LCHS head coach Matt Carson said. “After that, we were playing catchup at that point.
“There were some good things tonight where we moved the ball well and ran the floor well, but then there were also times where it stopped a little bit and we needed more box outs. There will be more positives to this when I go back to watch the film, but there are things that we’ll need to clean up.”
The Mustangs opened the second frame with four straight points by Chase Smaltz and Ian Waits, then both teams exchanged 3-pointers with Luken Roades of WHS and Waits of LCHS sinking those baskets, leaving the score 29-24 in favor of the Wildcats with 6:03 left in the first half. Waits ended the game with 14 points, and Smaltz totaled 13 points.
The two teams continued to exchange baskets as the quarter went along, but five of the final seven points of the frame were scored by the Mustangs with a 3-pointer from Trey Pitzer, and then a layup by Chisman, while WHS ended the quarter with points in the paint by Walker for the 37-32 halftime lead.
Just like they did at the end of the first frame where the Wildcats had a stint of scoring, Whiteoak began the third frame with 10 straight points in a span of two minutes, as Barnett opened the third with seven of the 10 points scored for a 47-32 Wildcat advantage. Bailey had three points in the 10-run, helping the Wildcats gain the 15-point lead.
LC had to call a timeout less than two minutes into the third frame.
“The goal of any coach is when you come out of halftime, you want the other team to call a timeout, you don’t want to be the one calling the timeout,” Barnett said of the third-quarter run. “Tonight we did that, pushed the issue. Basketball is a game of runs, and tonight we were fortunate to have a couple runs.”
Smaltz ended the run with a 3-pointer at the 4:23 mark, and by the time third ended LC did battle back with a steal and layup by Waits and another 3-pointer by Smaltz. Once the third came to a close, it was WHS leading 53-42.
Other final scoring for LCHS in the game included Pitzer with five points and Shope with seven points.
The Mustangs were also without two key players in Tuesday’s game.
“This group is competitive, they push each other and challenge each other. I have no doubt when we practice tomorrow, they are going to push each other and respond. When it comes together and clicks, it will be fine,” Carson said. “Credit Whiteoak, they played hard and made some extra plays.”
The remainder of WHS final scoring included Bradley Ashbaugh with eight points, Carson Emery with five points, Ethan Hughes with four points and Roades with five points.
“Ashbaugh came in and played hard,” Barnett said. “He jumped the pass lanes, got rebounds, got to the foul, things we want to do. Luken Roades came in and played a heck of a ball game. He played extended minutes.
“Landon played a good game. He carried the ball, put the guys in the offense and penetrated when he needed to and passed the ball when he needed to. Everyone played well tonight.”
In the fourth frame, Whiteoak never lost the lead, and the Mustangs were forced to foul as WHS won the frame at 18-12.
Next for the Whiteoak Wildcats is a game on Friday, Dec. 11 as they will be facing the West Union Dragons.
Lynchburg-Clay will play on Friday, Dec. 11 when they will be taking on Chesapeake in non-conference action. The JV game is scheduled for 5 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 6:30 p.m. The SHAC game originally scheduled vs. Ripley has been postponed with a TBA date.
[[In-content Ad]]
From the very start both teams played with intensity, but in two different stints of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference game the Wildcats took control, which allowed them to break away from the visiting Mustangs en route to the victory, their second of the season in three games played.
“This was a total change from how we played on Saturday (a Whiteoak loss),” WHS head coach Ryan Barnett said. “Saturday we didn’t play very hard, and on Monday we came in and had an intense practice and the kids bought into it. We had a heart-to-heart and said ‘listen, we can lose like that all season, or you can come out and put everything on the line and come out with a win.’
“That’s what they did tonight.”
The Wildcats (2-1) and Mustangs played a close first frame, but it was Whiteoak who led at the conclusion of the first frame by a 24-17 score. Early on in the first frame, it was the Mustangs who were the leaders, with Logan Shope putting Lynchburg-Clay in front at 6-5 with a three-point play at the 5:46 mark of the frame.
From there, LCHS sank a 3-pointer at the 5:12 mark of the first, only to see Whiteoak answer with a trey of their own by Landon Barnett, as he tied the score at 9-9 with 4:35 on the clock. Eventually Whiteoak led by a 14-11 score with Nick Bailey gaining the rebound and putting the ball through the hoop.
Barnett finished the game with 26 points, and Bailey finished next in the scoring column with 13 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double.
“I told Nick in the locker room this was the best I’ve ever seen him play,” Barnett said. “He’s a total game changer when he decides to play. He played well tonight, and we’ve talked and he said he’s going to give it everything he’s got. It showed tonight.”
The first frame continued with team Brady Chisman sinking a 3-pointer at the top of the key for a 15-14 Mustang advantage, only to see Whiteoak answer with points from Barnett and Hogan Walker for a lead of 16-15. Walker finished the game with 10 points, while Chisman finished with 15 points to lead LCHS in the scoring column.
“Hogan busted his tail off tonight, but he’s undersized game in and game out and he just banged and banged and did what we wanted to do,” Barnett said. “He has big shoes to fill, and he’s filling them just fine.”
LC (0-1) had two free throws late in the first from Shope, but the ending of the quarter belonged to Barnett with the sophomore sinking a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left in the opening frame, then he repeated the feat at the buzzer with another trifecta for the 24-17 WHS lead after one quarter.
“There were a couple times, including closing out the first quarter and then a couple two-minute stretches in the second and third quarters, and that was the difference in the ball game,” LCHS head coach Matt Carson said. “After that, we were playing catchup at that point.
“There were some good things tonight where we moved the ball well and ran the floor well, but then there were also times where it stopped a little bit and we needed more box outs. There will be more positives to this when I go back to watch the film, but there are things that we’ll need to clean up.”
The Mustangs opened the second frame with four straight points by Chase Smaltz and Ian Waits, then both teams exchanged 3-pointers with Luken Roades of WHS and Waits of LCHS sinking those baskets, leaving the score 29-24 in favor of the Wildcats with 6:03 left in the first half. Waits ended the game with 14 points, and Smaltz totaled 13 points.
The two teams continued to exchange baskets as the quarter went along, but five of the final seven points of the frame were scored by the Mustangs with a 3-pointer from Trey Pitzer, and then a layup by Chisman, while WHS ended the quarter with points in the paint by Walker for the 37-32 halftime lead.
Just like they did at the end of the first frame where the Wildcats had a stint of scoring, Whiteoak began the third frame with 10 straight points in a span of two minutes, as Barnett opened the third with seven of the 10 points scored for a 47-32 Wildcat advantage. Bailey had three points in the 10-run, helping the Wildcats gain the 15-point lead.
LC had to call a timeout less than two minutes into the third frame.
“The goal of any coach is when you come out of halftime, you want the other team to call a timeout, you don’t want to be the one calling the timeout,” Barnett said of the third-quarter run. “Tonight we did that, pushed the issue. Basketball is a game of runs, and tonight we were fortunate to have a couple runs.”
Smaltz ended the run with a 3-pointer at the 4:23 mark, and by the time third ended LC did battle back with a steal and layup by Waits and another 3-pointer by Smaltz. Once the third came to a close, it was WHS leading 53-42.
Other final scoring for LCHS in the game included Pitzer with five points and Shope with seven points.
The Mustangs were also without two key players in Tuesday’s game.
“This group is competitive, they push each other and challenge each other. I have no doubt when we practice tomorrow, they are going to push each other and respond. When it comes together and clicks, it will be fine,” Carson said. “Credit Whiteoak, they played hard and made some extra plays.”
The remainder of WHS final scoring included Bradley Ashbaugh with eight points, Carson Emery with five points, Ethan Hughes with four points and Roades with five points.
“Ashbaugh came in and played hard,” Barnett said. “He jumped the pass lanes, got rebounds, got to the foul, things we want to do. Luken Roades came in and played a heck of a ball game. He played extended minutes.
“Landon played a good game. He carried the ball, put the guys in the offense and penetrated when he needed to and passed the ball when he needed to. Everyone played well tonight.”
In the fourth frame, Whiteoak never lost the lead, and the Mustangs were forced to foul as WHS won the frame at 18-12.
Next for the Whiteoak Wildcats is a game on Friday, Dec. 11 as they will be facing the West Union Dragons.
Lynchburg-Clay will play on Friday, Dec. 11 when they will be taking on Chesapeake in non-conference action. The JV game is scheduled for 5 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 6:30 p.m. The SHAC game originally scheduled vs. Ripley has been postponed with a TBA date.
[[In-content Ad]]