Mustangs win homecoming game over Fayetteville
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs showed their resiliency Friday night in front of their home crowd on homecoming.
The Mustangs had a 15-point lead, lost it, and won the game with a dramatic falling 3-pointer from senior Gage Waits in front of the student section with 37 seconds left on the clock, bringing the home crowd to their feet, eventually sending the Mustangs to a 66-60 win over the Fayetteville Rockets.
The 3-pointer by Waits, who finished with 11 points, came as he previously left the game with a leg injury. He returned to the game and made his presence known.
Later in the quarter, at the 29.6 mark, Waits put the Mustangs ahead by four points with a free-throw conversion. Fayetteville had multiple opportunities to score points, but eventually LC regained possession and scored two final points from the free-throw line by Christian Inman for the six-point win.
"I just told the kids in the locker room, everybody did something good for us (Friday) or in practice this week," LC head coach Matt Carson said. "I told them every senior on the team made a key play for us at some point in this game."
LC senior Ryan Inman led the Mustangs' scoring with 19 points, collecting a double-double with 17 rebounds.
"Our five seniors were leaders (Friday) and stepped up when we needed them to," Carson said.
Other seniors included Waits, Chaz Lanier, Colt Dunseith and Marc Blankenship.
Before the game, the homecoming queen and king was announced with seniors MacKenzie Stevens and Blankenship earning the honors.
Blankenship finished with three points, while Lanier also scored three points.
The Mustangs were strong in the first half with them building a 21-13 lead after the first quarter as Ryan Inman scored seven points in the frame, and sophomore Devin Pierson added nine points in the quarter. Waits also added five points in the opening quarter.
For the game, LC finished with 18 points as he scored all his points in the first three frames.
LC also controlled the second quarter by outscoring the Rockets, 14-8 for a 35-21 halftime lead, with Lanier, Ryan Inman, Pierson and Christian Inman combining for the second-quarter scoring.
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Then came the third where the lead started to go downhill for the Mustangs, as they were outscored 23-14, even after they built a 15-point lead following a put-back bucket by Christian Inman with 3:02 left in the third.
Following that bucket, the Rockets started to ignite, ending the third with a 14-4 run, including a 3-pointer by DJ Iles with 1:54 left in the quarter. That was followed with five consecutive points from Tanner Fowler to end the quarter with the Rockets trailing 49-44.
"What happened when we lost our lead was Fayetteville is a good ball club," Carson said. "They are streaky and started hitting shots in the third and made a run.
"It was almost like a role-reversal of our game at their place. We got down 16 points there and came back and won, and they almost came back and won here. They are a good ball club."
Iles finished with a game-high 23 points, while Fowler totaled 19 in the loss.
"DJ Iles is a great basketball player," Carson said. "He's a 1,000-point scorer, and they have some good shooters. We knew coming in it was going to be a tough game, and this was a good quality win. I'm proud of the kids and the way they kept battling."
Once the fourth began, the game continued to stay close with the Mustangs holding onto a one-point to three-point lead as each team answered buckets from one another.
With charge calls hurting the momentum of the Mustangs, along with some untimely turnovers, the Rockets tied the score at 53 with a free throw from Iles with 3:45 left in the game.
The game was tied three more times in the fourth, the last being 60-60 with under a minute to go. The final tie was broken by the aforementioned 3-pointer by Waits.
In JV play, LC defeated Fayetteville, 66-34. Leading LC was River Mullins with 24 points.
The Mustangs had a 15-point lead, lost it, and won the game with a dramatic falling 3-pointer from senior Gage Waits in front of the student section with 37 seconds left on the clock, bringing the home crowd to their feet, eventually sending the Mustangs to a 66-60 win over the Fayetteville Rockets.
The 3-pointer by Waits, who finished with 11 points, came as he previously left the game with a leg injury. He returned to the game and made his presence known.
Later in the quarter, at the 29.6 mark, Waits put the Mustangs ahead by four points with a free-throw conversion. Fayetteville had multiple opportunities to score points, but eventually LC regained possession and scored two final points from the free-throw line by Christian Inman for the six-point win.
"I just told the kids in the locker room, everybody did something good for us (Friday) or in practice this week," LC head coach Matt Carson said. "I told them every senior on the team made a key play for us at some point in this game."
LC senior Ryan Inman led the Mustangs' scoring with 19 points, collecting a double-double with 17 rebounds.
"Our five seniors were leaders (Friday) and stepped up when we needed them to," Carson said.
Other seniors included Waits, Chaz Lanier, Colt Dunseith and Marc Blankenship.
Before the game, the homecoming queen and king was announced with seniors MacKenzie Stevens and Blankenship earning the honors.
Blankenship finished with three points, while Lanier also scored three points.
The Mustangs were strong in the first half with them building a 21-13 lead after the first quarter as Ryan Inman scored seven points in the frame, and sophomore Devin Pierson added nine points in the quarter. Waits also added five points in the opening quarter.
For the game, LC finished with 18 points as he scored all his points in the first three frames.
LC also controlled the second quarter by outscoring the Rockets, 14-8 for a 35-21 halftime lead, with Lanier, Ryan Inman, Pierson and Christian Inman combining for the second-quarter scoring.
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Then came the third where the lead started to go downhill for the Mustangs, as they were outscored 23-14, even after they built a 15-point lead following a put-back bucket by Christian Inman with 3:02 left in the third.
Following that bucket, the Rockets started to ignite, ending the third with a 14-4 run, including a 3-pointer by DJ Iles with 1:54 left in the quarter. That was followed with five consecutive points from Tanner Fowler to end the quarter with the Rockets trailing 49-44.
"What happened when we lost our lead was Fayetteville is a good ball club," Carson said. "They are streaky and started hitting shots in the third and made a run.
"It was almost like a role-reversal of our game at their place. We got down 16 points there and came back and won, and they almost came back and won here. They are a good ball club."
Iles finished with a game-high 23 points, while Fowler totaled 19 in the loss.
"DJ Iles is a great basketball player," Carson said. "He's a 1,000-point scorer, and they have some good shooters. We knew coming in it was going to be a tough game, and this was a good quality win. I'm proud of the kids and the way they kept battling."
Once the fourth began, the game continued to stay close with the Mustangs holding onto a one-point to three-point lead as each team answered buckets from one another.
With charge calls hurting the momentum of the Mustangs, along with some untimely turnovers, the Rockets tied the score at 53 with a free throw from Iles with 3:45 left in the game.
The game was tied three more times in the fourth, the last being 60-60 with under a minute to go. The final tie was broken by the aforementioned 3-pointer by Waits.
In JV play, LC defeated Fayetteville, 66-34. Leading LC was River Mullins with 24 points.