Mustangs outlast Highland County counterpart McClain for win

DODSONVILLE — For just over three and a half quarters, the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs and McClain Tigers battled to a tied score at 36-36, as both teams had their high and low points in the non-conference showdown Tuesday night at LCHS. 

But from the 3:07 mark of the game until the final buzzer sounded, all the offense belonged to the host Mustangs as they drove to the hoop, gained multiple second-chance opportunities and eventually scored nine consecutive points to tie the game, then break away, for a 43-36 victory. 

That final run of scoring by the Mustangs began when Denver Clinton tied the score at 36 with 3:07 on the clock following points in the paint, and from there it was Austin Bell of LCHS — who led the Mustangs with 11 points —grabbing the tough rebound and connecting with a put-back basket against the Tigers that gave LCHS a two-point lead at 38-36 with 2:16 on the clock. 

Following a full timeout with 2:11 on the clock, the Mustangs were back at it with a basket by Cody Bell that increased the LCHS lead to four points. Both team each missed two free-throw opportunities, but in the final moments of the game it was Braedon West making one free throw for LCHS, followed by fellow Mustang Austin Bell sinking two final shots from the free-throw line that sealed the win for the home team. West totaled six points in the win. 

The first three quarters and five minutes into the fourth frame were played even on the scoreboard, but it was McClain who led 11-9 at the conclusion of the first quarter, with freshman Michael Noszka Jr. knocking down two 3-pointers and going 2-of-3 from the free-throw line in the opening quarter. For the game, Noszka finished with 10 points.

“Early on, I thought we weren't as aggressive up the line as we should have been,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Brian Callahan said. “We had talked about that before the game.

“We had talked about making [Noszka Jr.] a priority before the game in terms of trying to make sure that we're closing out hard to his side. We weren't doing that early, but I thought it was something that over the course of the game, we were able to kind of adjust and kind of correct those errors that we were making mistakes on early on.” 

McClain’s other three points in the first quarter came from a two-point basket by Owen Sykes and a free throw from Andrew Potts. Sykes led the Tigers with 14 points. 

In the first quarter, LCHS had five of their eight points come from a 3-pointer and two-point basket by Braedon West, plus Austin Bell and Clinton each scored two-point baskets. Clinton finished with eight points. 

The Mustangs won the second frame at 14-11, but the Tigers were first to strike in the second frame with a basket by Noszka, putting the Tigers ahead by four points. LC struck back with consecutive 3-pointers from Austin Bell and Jay Cordrey, plus a steal and fast-break bucket from Josiah Burns, to lift the Mustangs in the lead by four points with 4:23 remaining in the opening half. 

McClain stopped the Mustangs’ 8-0 run with a free throw by Sykes with exactly 4:00 left in the second quarter, but from there the two teams continued to battle and play strategic basketball, as both teams dared each other to make the next move. 

LC scored the next points with 3:28 on the clock as Clinton put the ball through the hoop, only to see McClain’s Seth Weller sink a 3-pointer with just over three minutes left in the quarter for a two-point LCHS lead at 19-17. 

Again, Clinton scored two points for LCHS, and the Tigers exceeded that feat by sinking a 3-pointer off a shot by Jordan Bell to get the Tigers back to within a point of tying the score. 

The Mustangs took a three-point lead following a basket by Cody Bell, but the first half came to a close and everything went in favor of the Tigers in the final minute with Sykes scoring a basket to get MHS back to within a point of the LCHS lead. With 14 seconds remaining on the clock, it was Potts who made a second chance basket in the paint, leaving McClain in the lead at 24-23 when halftime arrived. 

McClain kept the one=point lead when the third quarter wrapped up, as the visitors led 31-30 after the third came to a close, with the Tigers and the Mustangs each scoring seven points. 

“We played well enough to win for about three and a half quarters,” McClain head coach Michael Noszka said. “We lost the game late because we didn't possess the ball. We didn't stop it. They missed some layups and we didn't grab it, and then we turned it over a couple times in critical situations. It’s disappointing because we left a win out there on the floor, at least that's how we feel. We did enough good things to win.”

This quarter saw a lot of passing by the Tigers as they worked to get the play they wanted on offense, and the Mustangs not budging from their defense that kept the Tigers out of the paint, and forcing them to find an outside shot. 

“Even though we have a lot of juniors, we're a young varsity team, because a lot of these kids before the season haven’t had much varsity experience,” Callahan said. “We're kind of learning who we are and what we can do and what works and what works with certain groups on the floor as we go. I think that they've been kind of picking it up and picking it up, but a staple of our program is defense. It doesn't matter if we’re a full court pressing somebody, trapping somebody in a half court or playing just regular half court defense, this is what we kind of hang our hat on.” 

MHS took a three-point lead to start the third with a basket from Sykes, but the Mustangs sank a 3-pointer off a shot from the top of the key by Cody Bell, with the junior ringing in a 26-26 score at the 5:45 mark of the quarter. Cody Bell ended the night with nine points.

From there, it was the Tigers coming back with two points off a shot by Sykes, as Potts had the assist with a pass in transition. 

McClain held a two-point lead until LC had a put-back basket by Cairen Goings with 5:02 left in the quarter, tying the score at 28. The Tigers battled back to jump ahead with a 30-28 advantage following a layup by Sykes with 4:38 remaining in the quarter.

As the Tigers held a two-point lead, the game pace slowed as the two teams worked hard on both offense and defense, trying to force their opponent into a mistake. 

The Tigers passed the ball outside the three-point line, looking to get the shot they wanted, and the Mustangs’ defense wouldn’t allow McClain to break inside the paint, resulting in the teams going almost two minutes until the Tigers went for a shot and were fouled on a rebound with 2:56 left in the third. 

McClain, again, worked for the shot they wanted by passing the ball multiple times on the same possession, but the LCHS defense forced a mistake, and the Tigers sent the ball out of bounds with 1:52 left in the quarter. 

The play picked back up, as McClain was fouled with 1:42 on the clock, and Sykes made one of two free-throw attempts. The final two points of the quarter came with two made free throws by Cody Bell, leaving the score 31-30 in favor of McClain. 

The Mustangs won the fourth quarter at 13-5 as Austin Bell scored six of the LCHS points, while the rest of those points were scored by Cody Bell with two and Asher Faust with two, as he grabbed a rebound and put the ball back in the hoop with 5:09 left in the fourth, tying the score at 36. There were also two points scored by Clinton in the fourth for Lynchburg-Clay. 

McClain’s fourth-quarter scoring saw a 3-pointer by Seth Weller and two points by Sykes. Weller totaled six points in the game. 

“Well, they started coming out more on our guards, and our post guys did a good job,” Noszka said. “Owen really played well, just getting the ball in the middle and dropping it down. But, you know, you’ve got to finish the game. We didn't do it in the fourth quarter, but we did it the whole game.

“We’ve got to find ways to win. We’ve just got to keep getting better every day. We’ve just got to do some basic things. I still think we can win games. We were right there tonight. We’ve got to finish. They scored just layups here to take the lead at times. We didn't
grab some defensive rebounds. We’ve got to make foul shots and layups, too.”

As a team, LCHS finished 5-of-8 from the free-throw line, while MHS was 5-of-11. The Tigers also totaled five 3-pointers and eight two-point baskets, while committing seven turnovers. LCHS had eight turnovers, plus other team totals included 13 two-point baskets and four 3-pointers. 

The loss sends McClain to an overall record of 1-5 overall, while LCHS improves to 3-4 overall. 

“It's a good win for us,” Callahan said. “We’re just trying to stack good games, and I told them I want them to enjoy this tonight, but come tomorrow, our attention goes to West Union and hopefully trying to even our record out before the Christmas holiday. 

“I just thought it was great because the scoring was balanced across the board. That's winning basketball right there. That's sharing the basketball and everybody making plays.”

Next for the Mustangs is a Southern Hills Athletic Conference game on Friday, Dec. 22 at West Union. LCHS is 1-3 in SHAC games, while West Union is 0-4 in SHAC games and 0-4 overall. 

McClain is scheduled to play again Saturday, Dec. 23 at home against Frontier Athletic Conference and Highland County rival, the Hillsboro Indians (2-1, 4-1) at MHS. 

BOX SCORE


MHS    11 13 07 05 — 36
LCHS    09 14 07 13 — 43

LYNCHBURG-CLAY (43) — A.Faust 1 (0) 0-0 2, J.Cordrey 0 (1) 0-0 3, B.West 1 (1) 1-2 6, C.Bell 2 (1) 2-2 9, A.Bell 3 (1) 2-4 11, J.Burns 1 (0) 0-0 2, D.Clinton 4 (0) 0-0 8, C.Goings 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 13 (4) 5-8 43.

MCCLAIN (36) — M.Noszka Jr. 1 (2) 2-3 10, J.Bell 0 (1) 0-0 3, S.Weller 0 (2) 0-0 6, O.Sykes 6 (0) 2-4 14, A.Potts 1 (0) 1-4 3. TOTALS: 8 (5) 5-11 36.