Mustangs bounce back; top Dragons
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
DODSONVILLE — In their second game without senior Wes Pierson, the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs did what they had to do to get the job done. LC outlasted a scrappy West Union team for a 56-47 Southern Hills League win, Tuesday at LCHS.
Tuesday's game wasn't just about the present-day LC, but they honored part of its storied history as well with LC welcoming its second Hall of Fame class in a pregame ceremony. LC welcomed Lynchburg-Clay supporter Terry McGinnis and former standout player Andy Richmond into their Hall of Fame. Accepting on behalf of Richmond (who passed away in 1990) were members of his family.
Honored at halftime with a plaque was senior Karen Hilt for her past soccer season, as she gained many honors this past season, including Academic All-American.
As for the game itself … the Mustangs started slow and ended strong enough to hold off a late West Union rally for the win, as they played their second game without Pierson, who suffered an ankle injury in practice last week. Pierson will be out for an undetermined amount of time.
In fact, LC trailed after the opening quarter at 10-9 but came back for a halftime lead of 24-13 as LC outscored the Dragons 15-3 in the second frame.
"I thought we played well during the second quarter … our defense was good," LC head coach Jason McLaughlin said. "In the second half, we played well in spurts, and at other times we had a lot of defensive breakdowns.
"West Union played really hard in the second half, and we hit our free throws down the stretch and that allowed us to win."
LC (2-3, 4-6) scored the game's first seven points in the first three minutes of play with a 3-pointer from Tyler Davidson and four straight points by Ryan Inman. Inman ended the contest with 13 points.
After that run, the Dragons (0-7, 0-10) woke up and scored 10 consecutive points to take a 10-7 advantage with 29 seconds left in the first. Contributing to the run of West Union points were: A.J. Frost, Tanner Huntley, Bryce Kramer and Austin Kingsolver as Frost had a three-point play and Kramer sank a 3-pointer with 1:27 left in the quarter.
The final points of the first were scored by Gage Waits on a layup, snapping the run by the Dragons.
In the second frame, the Mustangs pulled away by outscoring the visiting Dragons by 12 points.
LC opened the quarter with a jumper from Austin Gorman, and after a WU free throw, the Mustangs went on a 11-0 run for a 22-11 lead with under a minute remaining in the opening half. The run began with a free-throw conversion by Davidson, followed by put-back points by Alec Smith and two more baskets by Davidson, who finished with a game-high 16 points. Smith (who totaled nine points) added two more points to the LC lead, and the final points of the run were from two free throws by Waits.
Frost broke the run in the final seconds with points for the Dragons, but he left just enough time on the clock for Inman to add two more points to the Mustangs' advantage for a 11-point halftime lead.
The Mustangs were outscored in the third by one point at 14-13 with WU turning the game into a 10-point deficit headed into the final eight minutes. A big part of the West Union scoring in the third was from the play of Huntley, who scored six points, and Logan McUne, who added four in the quarter.
LC's highlight in the third was a 3-pointer by Davidson at the 6:29 mark, which at the time put LC up 31-15, but it was the Dragons who knocked down consecutive 3-pointers to end the quarter, both by Huntley at the 1:10 and 43.5 mark of the quarter.
In the final eight minutes, the Dragons cut the LC advantage as low as five points with 44 seconds left in regulation, but points by Inman in the paint and Gorman at the free-throw line sealed the win for the host Mustangs.[[In-content Ad]]
The fourth-quarter free throws proved to be big for LC as they went 9-of-15 in the fourth and 16-of-24 overall. Also in the fourth, Waits sank two 3-pointers, finishing with 12 total points. WU was 4-of-4 from the line in the fourth and finished 6-of-7 from the charity stripe for the game as LC totaled 13 fouls, five in the first half. WU finished with 19 fouls.
"Our free-throw shooting was definitely the difference in the game," McLaughlin said. "We had the game under control, in-hand at the beginning of the fourth quarter I thought, and at one time we had a 14- or 15-point lead.
"But for some reason, we had the knack for turning over the ball over at really crucial times, and that hurt us."
As mentioned earlier, the Mustangs have to play differently without Pierson on the court.
"We played about the same tonight as we did against Fayetteville," McLaughlin said. "We play completely different without Wes, and I have to coach completely different without him playing.
"I'm not making excuses, but we have guys who have to step up and get some minutes for us right now because we really need them.
LC will now hit the road for the next five games, a stretch that begins on Friday (Jan. 13) when they travel to Seaman to face North Adams. Following that game, they will have games at Huntington (Jan. 14, non-league), Peebles (Jan. 20), Eastern Brown (Jan. 24) and Manchester (Jan. 27).
West Union will next play on Friday, Jan. 13 against the Fayetteville Rockets at FHS. They follow that with a home game on Friday, Jan. 20 against North Adams.
In JV play on Tuesday, LC defeated West Union 54-53 when Scott Cawood sank the game-winning basket with seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Cawood led LC with 13 points.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
WU 10 03 14 20 — 47
LC 09 15 13 19 — 56
INDIVIDUAL STATS
LC (56)
G.Waits 1 (2) 4-5 12
A.Gorman 2 (0) 2-2 6
T.Davidson 2 (2) 6-11 16
R.Inman 6 (0) 1-2 13
A.Smith 3 (0) 3-4 9
TOTALS: 15 (3) 16-24 55
WU (47)
Lo.McUne 4 (0) 3-4 11
T.Huntley 3 (2) 0-0 12
A.Frost 4 (0) 3-3 11
Le.McUne 1 (0) 0-0 2
B.Kramer 1 (1) 0-0 5
A.Kingsolver 3 (0) 0-0 6
TOTALS: 16 (3) 6-7 47
Tuesday's game wasn't just about the present-day LC, but they honored part of its storied history as well with LC welcoming its second Hall of Fame class in a pregame ceremony. LC welcomed Lynchburg-Clay supporter Terry McGinnis and former standout player Andy Richmond into their Hall of Fame. Accepting on behalf of Richmond (who passed away in 1990) were members of his family.
Honored at halftime with a plaque was senior Karen Hilt for her past soccer season, as she gained many honors this past season, including Academic All-American.
As for the game itself … the Mustangs started slow and ended strong enough to hold off a late West Union rally for the win, as they played their second game without Pierson, who suffered an ankle injury in practice last week. Pierson will be out for an undetermined amount of time.
In fact, LC trailed after the opening quarter at 10-9 but came back for a halftime lead of 24-13 as LC outscored the Dragons 15-3 in the second frame.
"I thought we played well during the second quarter … our defense was good," LC head coach Jason McLaughlin said. "In the second half, we played well in spurts, and at other times we had a lot of defensive breakdowns.
"West Union played really hard in the second half, and we hit our free throws down the stretch and that allowed us to win."
LC (2-3, 4-6) scored the game's first seven points in the first three minutes of play with a 3-pointer from Tyler Davidson and four straight points by Ryan Inman. Inman ended the contest with 13 points.
After that run, the Dragons (0-7, 0-10) woke up and scored 10 consecutive points to take a 10-7 advantage with 29 seconds left in the first. Contributing to the run of West Union points were: A.J. Frost, Tanner Huntley, Bryce Kramer and Austin Kingsolver as Frost had a three-point play and Kramer sank a 3-pointer with 1:27 left in the quarter.
The final points of the first were scored by Gage Waits on a layup, snapping the run by the Dragons.
In the second frame, the Mustangs pulled away by outscoring the visiting Dragons by 12 points.
LC opened the quarter with a jumper from Austin Gorman, and after a WU free throw, the Mustangs went on a 11-0 run for a 22-11 lead with under a minute remaining in the opening half. The run began with a free-throw conversion by Davidson, followed by put-back points by Alec Smith and two more baskets by Davidson, who finished with a game-high 16 points. Smith (who totaled nine points) added two more points to the LC lead, and the final points of the run were from two free throws by Waits.
Frost broke the run in the final seconds with points for the Dragons, but he left just enough time on the clock for Inman to add two more points to the Mustangs' advantage for a 11-point halftime lead.
The Mustangs were outscored in the third by one point at 14-13 with WU turning the game into a 10-point deficit headed into the final eight minutes. A big part of the West Union scoring in the third was from the play of Huntley, who scored six points, and Logan McUne, who added four in the quarter.
LC's highlight in the third was a 3-pointer by Davidson at the 6:29 mark, which at the time put LC up 31-15, but it was the Dragons who knocked down consecutive 3-pointers to end the quarter, both by Huntley at the 1:10 and 43.5 mark of the quarter.
In the final eight minutes, the Dragons cut the LC advantage as low as five points with 44 seconds left in regulation, but points by Inman in the paint and Gorman at the free-throw line sealed the win for the host Mustangs.[[In-content Ad]]
The fourth-quarter free throws proved to be big for LC as they went 9-of-15 in the fourth and 16-of-24 overall. Also in the fourth, Waits sank two 3-pointers, finishing with 12 total points. WU was 4-of-4 from the line in the fourth and finished 6-of-7 from the charity stripe for the game as LC totaled 13 fouls, five in the first half. WU finished with 19 fouls.
"Our free-throw shooting was definitely the difference in the game," McLaughlin said. "We had the game under control, in-hand at the beginning of the fourth quarter I thought, and at one time we had a 14- or 15-point lead.
"But for some reason, we had the knack for turning over the ball over at really crucial times, and that hurt us."
As mentioned earlier, the Mustangs have to play differently without Pierson on the court.
"We played about the same tonight as we did against Fayetteville," McLaughlin said. "We play completely different without Wes, and I have to coach completely different without him playing.
"I'm not making excuses, but we have guys who have to step up and get some minutes for us right now because we really need them.
LC will now hit the road for the next five games, a stretch that begins on Friday (Jan. 13) when they travel to Seaman to face North Adams. Following that game, they will have games at Huntington (Jan. 14, non-league), Peebles (Jan. 20), Eastern Brown (Jan. 24) and Manchester (Jan. 27).
West Union will next play on Friday, Jan. 13 against the Fayetteville Rockets at FHS. They follow that with a home game on Friday, Jan. 20 against North Adams.
In JV play on Tuesday, LC defeated West Union 54-53 when Scott Cawood sank the game-winning basket with seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Cawood led LC with 13 points.
BOX SCORE
SCORE BY QUARTERS
WU 10 03 14 20 — 47
LC 09 15 13 19 — 56
INDIVIDUAL STATS
LC (56)
G.Waits 1 (2) 4-5 12
A.Gorman 2 (0) 2-2 6
T.Davidson 2 (2) 6-11 16
R.Inman 6 (0) 1-2 13
A.Smith 3 (0) 3-4 9
TOTALS: 15 (3) 16-24 55
WU (47)
Lo.McUne 4 (0) 3-4 11
T.Huntley 3 (2) 0-0 12
A.Frost 4 (0) 3-3 11
Le.McUne 1 (0) 0-0 2
B.Kramer 1 (1) 0-0 5
A.Kingsolver 3 (0) 0-0 6
TOTALS: 16 (3) 6-7 47