McClain falls to Blue Lions in FAC opener

The McClain Tigers opened up Frontier Athletic Conference play at home Friday night against Washington and suffered their first defeat of the season, a 52-38 loss in front of a huge crowd in Greenfield.

All of the Tigers’ offensive success at shooting the basketball in their first two games was compromised all night by the Blue Lions’ stingy and aggressive full-court defensive pressure.

“We just couldn’t get into any flow of offense at all, but credit to them, their physicality and the way they played defense tonight really bothered us,” said McClain head coach Jarrod Haines.

It was a defensive effort that completely shut down McClain’s top two scorers, Zane Adams and Jordan Bell, who had been averaging double-digit scoring, by limiting them to a combined eight points. But a big spark to start the game was the offensive play of Brandon Greene and Riley Cummins who kept the Tigers close in the first half, scoring 13 of McClain’s 16 first-half points.

“I thought Riley Cummins and Brandon (Greene) really sparked us in the first half, and those are two kids that have really stepped up for us,” Haines said. “Jordan (Bell) and Zane (Adams) didn’t have one of their better shooting nights, but that’s going to happen occasionally.”

The Tigers trailed 16-10 after one period of play and found themselves losing by double-figures, 28-16 at the half after the Blue Lions outscored McClain 13-6 in the second.

Neither team was able to score very many points in the third period, due mostly to some great defense by both teams, but Washington still outscored McClain 9-8, and their lead grew to 38-24 heading to the fourth. Both teams scored 14 points in the final quarter, and the Blue Lions coasted to the 52-38 FAC victory.

A couple of bright spots for the Tigers in the second half were the play of senior Owen Sykes, who finished the game with a team-high 11 points, and the play of two freshmen, Hudson Lovett and Brady Binegar, both of whom turned in solid performances.

“I thought Owen (Sykes) played great and was all over the floor in probably one of his best games I’ve seen from him over the last couple of years,” Haines said. “Our two freshmen, Brady Binegar and Hudson Lovett, also played really well in the third and fourth quarters and down the stretch.

“Defensively, I thought we did OK at times, and then we had some bad breakdowns at other times.

“We held the big (Noah) Haithcock kid to nine points and (Jeston) Everhart to just seven, and they’ve both been shooting the ball well for them,” Haines continued. “Washington also had some kids come in off the bench that stepped up and scored.

“It’s only December, and we just started this thing, and I’m the fourth coach here in four years, but we’ll get it right. Sure, you want to win every game, but the reality is we have to build by taking one step at a time, and I thought this was a big step for us tonight because we kept battling. I’m proud of them for that.”

McClain (2-1) next play at Jackson Tuesday, Dec. 17, then travel to Miami Trace Friday, Dec. 20.

Individual scoring for McClain: Zane Adams 2,0,5, Brady Binegar 1,0,3, Riley Cummins 3,0,7, Jordan Bell 1,0,3, Owen Sykes 5,0,11, Hudson Lovett 1,1,3, Brandon Greene 3,0,6, Totals 16,1,38. 3-point goals-Adams 1, Binegar 1, Cummins 1 and Sykes 1. The Tigers made just 1-of-8 free-throws.

Washington leading scores were Roman Chijevsky with a game-high 13 points, and Jacob Lindsey added 10.

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