Tigers lose to Jackson in FAC opener

The McClain boys varsity basketball team saw their overall record drop to 1-1 on the season after a disappointing 69-51 loss to Frontier Athletic Conference foe Jackson Tuesday night in Greenfield.

The loss comes on the heels of an exciting season-opening 42-41 victory over non-conference opponent Paint Valley last week.

Two things that seemed to be huge factors in the loss were the Tigers’ inability to score points on offense and failure to stop Jackson defensively for most of the game.

Things started well for McClain when they jumped out to a 19-16 advantage after one period of play.  Unfortunately, that would be the most points they would score in a quarter and the only quarter they would be leading in the rest of the game.

It was an impressive offensive period for the Tigers that included three made long balls, two coming from freshman Michael Noszka Jr. and the other from senior Zane Adams.

After the action-packed and exciting opening quarter which saw eight lead changes, the second period was more of a turnover-plagued one the Ironmen slowly started to take control of.

Mikah Parks put McClain ahead 24-23 on a long three at the 5:00 mark, but Jackson answered with five straight points and took a slim 29-27 lead at halftime. Parks led the Tigers with 10 points at the break, while Noszka added seven, with all of those coming in the first period.

The third quarter was the difference in the ballgame when Jackson outscored McClain 19-10 and took a double-digit advantage, 48-37. The Ironmen continued to pull away in the fourth quarter and held their biggest lead of the contest 58-44 with just over four minutes left in regulation.

McClain could have folded up the tent at this point but continued to battle and were able to cut the lead to 58-46 later in the period before losing by the final score of 69-51.

Mikah Parks had an outstanding offensive ballgame for the Tigers, scoring a game-high 21 points, followed by Noszka, who added 17, which included five 3-pointers. Rounding out the scoring for McClain were Andrew Potts with seven and Zane Adams and Seth Weller with three points each.

Jackson, who started three sophomores, was led by Stephen Jenkins, who scored a team-high 16 points, followed closely by Charlie Woodard, who chipped in with 14. Boston Campbell and Ryan Seimetz also reached double figures in the game with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Another struggle for the Tigers in the game was the charity stripe, where they made just 10-of-19 free-throws for 52 percent.

The Tigers will host Miami Trace Friday, Dec. 8 in another tough FAC matchup.