Mustangs end regular season with home win over Greyhounds

DODSONVILLE — The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs started the game with seniors on the court, and by the time the final seconds ticked off the clock, LC had defended their home court for a 52-49 victory over the Manchester Greyhounds.

On Friday night, the Mustangs earned the Southern Hills Athletic Conference win (and their sixth win in nine games) by playing tough defense in the first, third and fourth frames, beginning with LC leading 11-4 after the first frame.

The first half of the opening eight minutes was mostly a showcase for the LC senior class, with Jordan Wilt, Noah Buck, Quinton Lewis and Tristan Wilbanks getting the start, along with junior Zach Blankenship.

"I told the team a big reason why we won this basketball game is that all four of our seniors stepped up, especially in that first quarter," LC head coach Matt Carson said. "That was as good a quarter defensively as I've seen out of us all year."

Though LC (13-9) trailed early after two free throws by the visiting Greyhounds, Wilt sank a jumper from the corner with 6:18 on the clock for a 2-2 score.

After MHS came back with two points, LC went on a 9-0 run to end the quarter, beginning with a 3-pointer by Blankenship, followed by two points by Eric McLaughlin. Following those points, River Mullins shot a jumper with 45 seconds left in the quarter, and the frame ended with Brandon Storer scoring two points off a jumper for the 11-4 first frame.

The second quarter was mostly all the Greyhounds, as they went from trailing by seven points to leading by seven with a 27-20 halftime advantage over the host Mustangs.

MHS opened the frame with a 14-3 run with 4:02 left in the second, with the three points by LC coming via 3-pointer from Joe Giordano (who led LC with 14 points) with 5:28 left in the quarter. After those points tied the score at 14, that's when MHS added to that aforementioned run with five more points.

LC made the score 19-18, a one-point deficit for the hosts, with points from Blankenship and Giordano with 3:11 left in the first. From there, the Greyhounds outscored the Mustangs, 8-2 to end the quarter.

"That second quarter got away from us a little bit," Carson said.

Though LC trailed by seven points to start the third, they managed to end the quarter trailing by six points, with McLaughlin, Giordano, Blankenship and Josh Ahrmann contributing for the 39-33 deficit entering the final eight minutes.

That fourth frame began with Giordano sinking two free throws, and after a Manchester 3-pointer, Blankenship converted a three-point play.

Blankenship finished the game with 13 points.

That was followed with two points by Mullins, who had an assist on a steal and pass by Blankenship on a fast break with 6:09 left in regulation.

WIth 4:09 on the clock, LC managed to tie the score with two points by Wilbanks, then later, he sank a free throw to tie the score at 45.

Blankenship put LC ahead by two points with two free throws, and later after losing the lead, Blankenship pushed LC back out front with a free throw. The Mustangs lost the lead again, only to take it back, this time with a layup from Ahrmann with 45.5 seconds left in regulation.

Manchester missed their ensuing shot, and following two missed free throws by the Mustangs, LC regained possession of the basketball with a turnover forced by Storer. The loose basketball was picked up by Wilbanks, who was then fouled with 2.4 left on the clock.

Wilbanks made one free throw to move the LC lead to two points. McLaughlin scored the final point of the regular season for LC with a free throw with less than a second on the clock.

"It was an ugly win, but I'm proud of the effort. We made plays when we needed to," Carson said. "I couldn't be prouder of this group right now. It seems like we'd cut it to two, cut it to three, we'd cut into their lead but couldn't get over the hump. It was right there at the end we got a steal, got a runout and were able to get over the hump.

"It's a grind-it-out type win. Our last three games have kind of been like that. Those are the time of games you're going to play in the tournament, so this is good preparation."

Manchester was led in scoring by Colton Thornburg and Austin Smith with 12 points each. Cole Pribble finished with 11.

Carson closed out the night with praise for his senior class.

"These seniors, Quinton Lewis, Jordan Wilt, Noah Buck and Tristan Wilbanks, are a great group of kids," he said. "They come in and work hard every day. They're great teammates. It's been a pleasure to be around them the past couple years. I just can't thank them enough.

"We want to keep this thing going so they can experience a few more games. Hopefully we can make a good tournament run."

In the JV game, LC won by a 49-39 score. Joshua Goble led LC with 23 points. The freshman game saw LC win by a 27-14 score, as Quintin Smith scored a team-high 10 points in the freshman win for the Mustangs.

The Mustangs will begin their postseason with a Division III DE District sectional semifinal game on Wednesday at Waverly High School, where they will face Wheelersburg at 8 p.m.