Tough 2nd half leads to Mustang loss to Panthers
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
EBER — The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs didn't lack effort in the 76-60 loss to the Miami Trace Panthers Friday night in the season opener. The problem for LC was the Panthers' athleticism, player rotation and defense causing the visitors too many problems for them to overcome.
The good thing for the Mustangs is they held their own in the first half against a much-improved Panther team, and LC head coach Jason McLaughlin said there were many things he liked about his team in the loss.
"The first half, we ran the floor well, and our defense was better," he said. "For the first game, this was a great game because all the things we did wrong are fixable.
"We have a lot of young guys who played in their first varsity game, and our help side defense needs to improve because we aren't where we need to be, but it will come around. This was a good learning experience."
LC (0-1) and the Panthers had a very competitive first quarter as the Mustangs came out ahead 18-16, and that was after opening the quarter down four points in the first minute of the game.
The Mustangs took the lead with two points from junior Ryan Inman and a three-point play by senior Alec Smith with 6:07 left in the first.
Inman and junior Gage Waits led LC in scoring with 12 points each. Smith finished with 11 points.
Later in the frame, MT sophomore Cedric Pettiford tied the score at 12 (2:34), and again after LC took the lead, the Panthers' Brantlyn Decker made it a 14-14 score with 1:55 on the first-quarter clock.
Pettiford led all scorers with a game-high 24 points as he made 12 two-point baskets and was 1-for-2 from the free-throw line. Decker followed with 15 points, and Trevor Smith also finished with 15 points.
"Miami Trace is a tough team to play," McLaughlin said. "Their athleticism and experience and their pressure made us turn over the ball.
"They (MT) are a much improved ball club, and we didn't play with the intensity and focus we needed to."
LC ended the first with a long jumper by freshman Joshua Goble and two points by Devin Pierson (eight total points). Also late in the first, Inman had a block (which led to the Pierson points), and he also took a charge.
Goble finished his varsity debut with 10 points.
In the second, the Mustangs had the aforementioned nine-point lead with 5:07 left in the quarter with scoring from Waits, Jacob Skaggs, Goble and Inman, along with a taken charge from Skaggs (seven points) to open the second with a 7-0 run.
By the end of the quarter, MT (1-0) took a three-point lead of 34-31.
"The number of players we could play tonight helped. We made shots late and pushed down the fouler, and that made a difference," MT head coach Jon Stauffer said. "We did a good job of keeping the basketball out of their ball handler's hands. (Gage) Waits did a good job against us, and we're going to get better on our help side defense.
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"This is a great first game for us. We were able to play a lot of people, and it took the entire team to win. We had great practices, and it's going to take us 10 players to win with our style, so I was happy with our rotation."
The rally began with 3-pointers from Jaron Brust and Smith, and a free throw by Decker cut the LC lead to 27-23 with 2:52 left in the half. Decker followed up with another two points, and the score was tied at 27 with points from Smith, leaving 55 seconds on the clock.
From there, the lead switched hands three times with Decker scoring the quarter's final three points for the three-point lead.
In the final two quarters, the defense of the Panthers and scoring points in transition made a big difference in the outcome as they outscored the visitors 42-29 in the final 16 minutes as MT had quarters of 22 and 20 points.
The biggest and loudest moment in the game came with 5:40 on the clock with Pettiford slamming the ball through the net, igniting the crowd to the loudest level of the night.
LC answered with a 3-pointer by Goble with 3:42 on the clock, but MT came back with four straight points for a lead of 52-42.
Entering the final quarter trailing by eight points, LC eventually cut the lead to six but never could get any closer as MT went on a run of 15-6 for a lead of 72-57 with 1:10 left in regulation.
"Lynchburg-Clay is a great team with some nice veterans," Stauffer said. "This was a tough test for us, and I'm glad we had them at home this year."
For the game, LC went 11-for-19 from the free-throw line, while MT was 9-for-12. MT totaled 22 fouls (12 in first quarter), while LC had 11 fouls (four in the first half).
LC will play again on Dec. 5 at Hillsboro in a Highland County rivalry matchup. MT plays again on Saturday, Dec. 1 at Adena.
The Mustangs won the JV and freshmen games.
The good thing for the Mustangs is they held their own in the first half against a much-improved Panther team, and LC head coach Jason McLaughlin said there were many things he liked about his team in the loss.
"The first half, we ran the floor well, and our defense was better," he said. "For the first game, this was a great game because all the things we did wrong are fixable.
"We have a lot of young guys who played in their first varsity game, and our help side defense needs to improve because we aren't where we need to be, but it will come around. This was a good learning experience."
LC (0-1) and the Panthers had a very competitive first quarter as the Mustangs came out ahead 18-16, and that was after opening the quarter down four points in the first minute of the game.
The Mustangs took the lead with two points from junior Ryan Inman and a three-point play by senior Alec Smith with 6:07 left in the first.
Inman and junior Gage Waits led LC in scoring with 12 points each. Smith finished with 11 points.
Later in the frame, MT sophomore Cedric Pettiford tied the score at 12 (2:34), and again after LC took the lead, the Panthers' Brantlyn Decker made it a 14-14 score with 1:55 on the first-quarter clock.
Pettiford led all scorers with a game-high 24 points as he made 12 two-point baskets and was 1-for-2 from the free-throw line. Decker followed with 15 points, and Trevor Smith also finished with 15 points.
"Miami Trace is a tough team to play," McLaughlin said. "Their athleticism and experience and their pressure made us turn over the ball.
"They (MT) are a much improved ball club, and we didn't play with the intensity and focus we needed to."
LC ended the first with a long jumper by freshman Joshua Goble and two points by Devin Pierson (eight total points). Also late in the first, Inman had a block (which led to the Pierson points), and he also took a charge.
Goble finished his varsity debut with 10 points.
In the second, the Mustangs had the aforementioned nine-point lead with 5:07 left in the quarter with scoring from Waits, Jacob Skaggs, Goble and Inman, along with a taken charge from Skaggs (seven points) to open the second with a 7-0 run.
By the end of the quarter, MT (1-0) took a three-point lead of 34-31.
"The number of players we could play tonight helped. We made shots late and pushed down the fouler, and that made a difference," MT head coach Jon Stauffer said. "We did a good job of keeping the basketball out of their ball handler's hands. (Gage) Waits did a good job against us, and we're going to get better on our help side defense.
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"This is a great first game for us. We were able to play a lot of people, and it took the entire team to win. We had great practices, and it's going to take us 10 players to win with our style, so I was happy with our rotation."
The rally began with 3-pointers from Jaron Brust and Smith, and a free throw by Decker cut the LC lead to 27-23 with 2:52 left in the half. Decker followed up with another two points, and the score was tied at 27 with points from Smith, leaving 55 seconds on the clock.
From there, the lead switched hands three times with Decker scoring the quarter's final three points for the three-point lead.
In the final two quarters, the defense of the Panthers and scoring points in transition made a big difference in the outcome as they outscored the visitors 42-29 in the final 16 minutes as MT had quarters of 22 and 20 points.
The biggest and loudest moment in the game came with 5:40 on the clock with Pettiford slamming the ball through the net, igniting the crowd to the loudest level of the night.
LC answered with a 3-pointer by Goble with 3:42 on the clock, but MT came back with four straight points for a lead of 52-42.
Entering the final quarter trailing by eight points, LC eventually cut the lead to six but never could get any closer as MT went on a run of 15-6 for a lead of 72-57 with 1:10 left in regulation.
"Lynchburg-Clay is a great team with some nice veterans," Stauffer said. "This was a tough test for us, and I'm glad we had them at home this year."
For the game, LC went 11-for-19 from the free-throw line, while MT was 9-for-12. MT totaled 22 fouls (12 in first quarter), while LC had 11 fouls (four in the first half).
LC will play again on Dec. 5 at Hillsboro in a Highland County rivalry matchup. MT plays again on Saturday, Dec. 1 at Adena.
The Mustangs won the JV and freshmen games.