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Blan downs Massie 72-66

Sunday, 06 January 2008

By BILL LIERMANN

Sports Writer

ADAMS TOWNSHIP — The Blanchester High School boys basketball team rode a 49-point offensive output in the second half to eliminate a five point halftime deficit and defeated cross-county rival Clinton-Massie, 72-66, Saturday night on the Falcons’ home floor.

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 4-8 on the season, while Clinton-Massie is now 2-9 on the year.

For Wildcat head coach Bennie Carroll, the victory was special for two reasons; first, it came on the heels of a tough loss the previous night at Goshen on a last-second shot, secondly it marked the first time in nearly a decade that the Wildcats defeated the Falcons on the basketball court.

Carroll, serving his second tour of duty as the Wildcats’ head coach, could not recall winning over Massie since he joined the BHS program back in 1999.

“It’s special to not only get a win over them, but also to win here,” he said. “It’s a mighty big win for us, I’m so proud of these kids. They suffered through a real heartbreaker down at Goshen last night. Even though we fell behind early, they didn’t give up. They played a great second half and really showed a lot of heart out there.”

In the early going, Massie jumped out to a 16-7 lead, but the ’Cats closed the quarter with a 4-2 run to make the score 18-11 after one period. Behind the shooting of Kyle Roads (eight points), the Falcons took a 28-23 lead at the intermission. Seven different Falcons scored for Massie in the first half, but their inability to cash in at the free throw line came back to haunt the Falcons. CM converted just four of 11 chances at the charity stripe.

To start the second half, the Wildcats reeled off nine straight points to take a quick 32-28 lead, including a pair of treys by Josh Ross, who reached double digits with 14 points for the game. For the Falcons, Andrew Wysong stepped up with seven points in the period and he tied the score at 35-35. It was a see-saw quarter, with teammate Logan McCormick’s lay-up giving Massie its last lead at 43-42. McCormick topped the Falcons in scoring with 18, and Wysong finished with 16. Rhoads also finished in double figures with 14 for Massie.

Steven White had a strong third period for the ‘Cats with nine points as Blan came back to regain the advantage, 46-43 going into the final period.

“Steven was a Warrior for us out there tonight,” Carroll said of his post-player. White scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half of play.

In the final quarter, senior A.J. Wiley put the team squarely on his back, or more appropriately, in his hands. After being held to six first quarter points, then scoreless in the second period, and a pair of free throws in the third period, he exploded for 18 of the ‘Cats 26 fourth quarter points.

Wiley scored Blan’s first six points of the period and fed teammate Nash Ballinger for a bucket which extended the ‘Cats lead double digits, 56-46 at the 6:00 mark. Ballinger was the fourth Wildcat player in double figures with 15 points

“A.J.’s play was outstanding in that fourth quarter and he really stood out; he made big plays and also hit some big shots,” Carroll said.

Wiley was the game’s high scorer with 24 points. However, scoring points was not his biggest concern, it was getting the victory.

“Coach (Carroll) told us at halftime to be strong and to come out and play our game. Just as long as we got the win, that’s all that mattered,” said Wiley.

Carroll said he felt as though the 9-0 jump-start to the second half was the key.

“That was a big run for us. Once we scored some points and played with some composure, we got our confidence back,” he said.

Although he was pleased with his team’s effort to start the game, Falcon head coach Brian Mudd was not happy with what he saw in the second half.

“We just did not play any defense in the second half. Give credit to Blanchester, they played well and seemed to want it more than we did, We told the kids before the game it would come down to desire tonight — which team really wanted it more,” he said. “Plus, we did not hit our shots very well in the paint; we made something like two out of ten attempts. If we would have made some of those free throws, it could have helped us.”

For the game, the Falcons shot just 54 percent at the line, hitting 12 of 22 total chances. Blanchester made the most of it’s’ free throw opportunities, converting 22 of 25 attempts. In the fourth quarter, the ‘Cats sank all 12 free throws attempted. Wiley connected on 10 of his 11 chances, and Ballinger was five out of six at the line.

The Falcons will return to action in the South Central Ohio League with a pair of home games this coming week. Tuesday night, they will face the Hillsboro Indians, and London comes in on Friday night. For the Wildcats, it’s a stretch of three straight home contests, beginning with back to back games in the Southern Buckeye Conference. On Friday, they will host Bethel-Tate and Saturday night versus New Richmond.

In the junior varsity contest, it was the Wildcats winning by a two-point margin, 45-43. Massie stole an inbounds pass with 1.9 seconds remaining in regulation, but missed the potential game-tying shot. Massie held a 24-22 halftime lead but was outscored by Blan in the third quarter, 8-2, giving the Wildcat junior varsity a 30-26 edge going into the final period.

SUMMARY

BHS 11 12 23 26 — 72

CM 18 10 15 23 — 66

(72) BLANCHESTER (2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Ballinger 2-2-5-15, Lewis 0-0-4-4, White 6-0-3-15, Ross 4-2-0-14, Wiley 7-0-10-24. Team Totals 19-4-22-72.

(65) CLINTON-MASSIE (2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Fields 1-0-1-3, Rhoads 6-0-2-14, McCormick 7-0-4-18, Jones 1-0-1-3, Dunham 2-0-0-4, Evans 4-0-0-8, Wysong 6-0-4-16. Team Totals 27-0-12-66.