Eastern’s 2nd quarter secures win over Mustangs

DODSONVILLE — Sometimes one team is just more dominant in all aspects of the game, and that was the case Tuesday night where the Eastern Warriors played a more complete game, leading to them defeating the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs, 64-21.

In the Southern Hills Athletic Conference game, the Warriors (4-1, 4-2) in the second quarter had a 14-0 run, completely taking over the game, all while building a 28-point lead with 2:53 left in the quarter.

Before that, though, the first frame was nearly as strong for the Warriors — a team that totaled 51 rebounds for the game, including 20 offensive boards — as the Warriors outscored the Mustangs 23-11 once the first eight minutes of the game were complete.

Eastern jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first frame with a 3-pointer by Grady Barber and a jumper from Braxton Vance. LCHS answered with a 3-pointer by Cody Bell, only to see the Warriors score two points off a 3-pointer by Vance.

Bell came back with another 3-pointer to keep the streak of 3-pointers going, but the Warriors answered with with six consecutive points scored by Vance, Pryce Murphy and Barber.

The Mustangs (1-4, 1-5) broke up the run with a drive to the hoop for a basket by Trevor Niehaus, but the Warriors answered with five straight points with two baskets by Barber and a free throw from Kayne Dotson.

Braedon West had a three-point play for LCHS to stop that scoring run, only to have the Warriors end the first with five straight points, this time with two free throws made by Murphy and a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Barber for the 12-point lead.

Things got much tougher for the home team Mustangs as they were outscored 19-4 in the second frame, with LC’s points coming off a 3-pointer by West and a free throw made by Niehaus.

The Warriors had the aforementioned 14-0 run in the quarter with points being contributed by Barber, Vance and Kade Walkup. Walkup earlier in the second had a 3-pointer, and later in the frame he added a second 3-pointer and a jumper.

After West broke up the 14-point burst of scoring by the Warriors, the away team ended the second with a jumper by Dotson for the 27-point lead at halftime.

In the second half, the Mustangs were outscored 14-4 in the third and 82 in the fourth quarter.

Eastern was led in scoring by Barber with 17 points (eight rebounds, three 3-pointers), followed by Vance with 12 points (six rebounds) and Walkup with 11 points (three rebounds, three steals, three 3-pointers).

Other final scoring for the Warriors included Chase Pinkerton (two), Murphy (six), Jaidon Florence (two), Dotson (three), Sam Ramer (two), Landen Koehler (seven) and Andrew Campbell (two).

In all for Eastern, they totaled seven 3-pointers, 18 two-point baskets, and they finished 7-of-9 from the free-throw line.

Lynchburg-Clay was led in scoring by Bell with 10 points (three 3-pointers), West with six points, Niehaus with three points, and Quinn Wells with two points.

LCHS is scheduled to play again Friday, Dec. 20 at home against the West Union Dragons at 7:30 p.m. in SHAC action.

Eastern is scheduled to play again Friday, Dec. 27 on the road against the Western Brown Broncos at 7:30 p.m.

BOX SCORE
EHS    23 19 14 08 — 64
LCHS    11 04 04 02 — 21

EASTERN (64) — K.Walkup 1 (3) 0-0 11, C.Pinkerton 1 (0) 0-0 2, B.Vance 6 (0) 0-1 12, P.Murphy 0 (0) 6-6 6, G.Barber 4 (3) 0-0 17, J.Florence 1 (0) 0-0 2, K.Dotson 1 (0) 1-2 3, S.Ramer 1 (0) 0-0 2, L.Koehler 2 (1) 0-0 7, A.Campbell 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 18 (7) 7-9 64.

LYNCHBURG-CLAY (21) — C.Bell 0 (3) 1-2 10, Q.Wells 1 (0) 0-0 2, B.West 1 (1) 1-1 6, T.Niehaus 1 (0) 1-3 3. TOTALS: 3 (4) 3-6 21.

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