Wildcats glide to win over Mustangs
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
DODSONVILLE – There wasn't a whole lot of scoring, but it was the Whiteoak Wildcats who broke away in the final quarter to defeat the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs, 65-50 Friday night at Lynchburg-Clay High School to move to the finals of the 2012 Wilkin Memorial Scholarship Tournament.
The Wildcats (3-4) led for most of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference against a Lynchburg-Clay team that is still looking for the first win of the year as they drop to 0-7 on the season.
"In the first half, we worried about them getting to the hoop, but we did a nice job of stopping that," WHS head coach Tom Wessner said. "In the second half, they (LC) turned up the pressure, but we played through it."
The most competitive part of the game was the second half (WHS led 29-11 after two quarters) as LC cut the Wildcat lead to six points after the third and later to four points with 6:50 left in the fourth.
From a point when a basket by LC was called off due to a charge call, an 11-point swing ensued as Whiteoak's Luke Taggert scored a three-point play and a layup off a fast break, followed by a transition dunk from Doc Seip and more points from Taggert to put the visiting Wildcats ahead 55-42.
Before the charge call, the Wildcats led 46-42 with 5:52 on the clock. After what was a 9-0 run, the visitors led by 13 points with 4:02 left in regulation.
From there, the scoring was close to balanced as WHS outscored LC, 10-8 in the final 3:36 of the contest.
WHS was led in scoring by four players in double figures as Gage Carraher had his best game of the season with 17 points (three first-quarter 3-pointers), followed by Taggert with 13, Tyler Williams with 12 and Seip with 10.
[[In-content Ad]]"Gage has been working hard," Wessner said. "He stays after practice and works, and it is showing. He's opening up lanes for others."
The Mustangs had three players with at least 10 points as Ryan Inman scored 13, followed by Josh Goble and Devin Pierson (both freshmen) with 10 points each. The rest of the Mustangs totaled 17 points.
The start of the game was completely opposite of the final two quarters as WHS led 15-5 after the first frame. All the first-quarter Wildcat scoring was from the aforementioned three treys by Carraher, added with four points by Seip and two from Williams.
The second frame wasn't much better for the LC scoring woes as they totaled just six points in the second and 11 total points in the first half.
WHS, on the other hand, collected 14 points in the second by Carraher, Taggert and Brent Davis. Davis wrapped up the game with nine points.
"We didn't play hard in the first half," LC head coach Jason McLaughlin said. "The second half, we played hard, but in the first half, we missed too many easy shots, and they (WHS) made them."
For whatever LC did in the first half, their play in the third was the complete opposite as they outscored their opponent, 25-13, more than doubling their first-half output.
Inman broke out in the third with 11 points, including a 3-pointer with 2:20 left, cutting the WHS lead to 37-30. Pierson scored eight points in the quarter, including a layup off a pass by Jake Skaggs to make it a seven-point deficit with .39 seconds left in the third. Goble sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it a six-point difference as he scored four points in the third.
"I told them at the half, all I want them to do is play hard," McLaughlin said. "They did that in the third."
The Mustangs will look to gain their first win of the season Saturday, Dec. 29 in the consolation game of the tournament as they will face CNE at 4:30 p.m. WHS will play for the tournament championship Saturday night at 8 p.m at LCHS.
In the first game of the boys tourney, Paint Valley defeated CNE, 52-42.
The Wildcats (3-4) led for most of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference against a Lynchburg-Clay team that is still looking for the first win of the year as they drop to 0-7 on the season.
"In the first half, we worried about them getting to the hoop, but we did a nice job of stopping that," WHS head coach Tom Wessner said. "In the second half, they (LC) turned up the pressure, but we played through it."
The most competitive part of the game was the second half (WHS led 29-11 after two quarters) as LC cut the Wildcat lead to six points after the third and later to four points with 6:50 left in the fourth.
From a point when a basket by LC was called off due to a charge call, an 11-point swing ensued as Whiteoak's Luke Taggert scored a three-point play and a layup off a fast break, followed by a transition dunk from Doc Seip and more points from Taggert to put the visiting Wildcats ahead 55-42.
Before the charge call, the Wildcats led 46-42 with 5:52 on the clock. After what was a 9-0 run, the visitors led by 13 points with 4:02 left in regulation.
From there, the scoring was close to balanced as WHS outscored LC, 10-8 in the final 3:36 of the contest.
WHS was led in scoring by four players in double figures as Gage Carraher had his best game of the season with 17 points (three first-quarter 3-pointers), followed by Taggert with 13, Tyler Williams with 12 and Seip with 10.
[[In-content Ad]]"Gage has been working hard," Wessner said. "He stays after practice and works, and it is showing. He's opening up lanes for others."
The Mustangs had three players with at least 10 points as Ryan Inman scored 13, followed by Josh Goble and Devin Pierson (both freshmen) with 10 points each. The rest of the Mustangs totaled 17 points.
The start of the game was completely opposite of the final two quarters as WHS led 15-5 after the first frame. All the first-quarter Wildcat scoring was from the aforementioned three treys by Carraher, added with four points by Seip and two from Williams.
The second frame wasn't much better for the LC scoring woes as they totaled just six points in the second and 11 total points in the first half.
WHS, on the other hand, collected 14 points in the second by Carraher, Taggert and Brent Davis. Davis wrapped up the game with nine points.
"We didn't play hard in the first half," LC head coach Jason McLaughlin said. "The second half, we played hard, but in the first half, we missed too many easy shots, and they (WHS) made them."
For whatever LC did in the first half, their play in the third was the complete opposite as they outscored their opponent, 25-13, more than doubling their first-half output.
Inman broke out in the third with 11 points, including a 3-pointer with 2:20 left, cutting the WHS lead to 37-30. Pierson scored eight points in the quarter, including a layup off a pass by Jake Skaggs to make it a seven-point deficit with .39 seconds left in the third. Goble sank a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it a six-point difference as he scored four points in the third.
"I told them at the half, all I want them to do is play hard," McLaughlin said. "They did that in the third."
The Mustangs will look to gain their first win of the season Saturday, Dec. 29 in the consolation game of the tournament as they will face CNE at 4:30 p.m. WHS will play for the tournament championship Saturday night at 8 p.m at LCHS.
In the first game of the boys tourney, Paint Valley defeated CNE, 52-42.