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East Clinton defeats Blanchester 58-40 in cross-county action

Saturday, 09 February 2008

By SHAWN ROBINSON

Sports Writer

BLANCHESTER — East Clinton head coach Ryan Briggs rewarded Nick McCord’s hard work with his first varsity start. McCord didn’t let down his coach.

Andrew Bond

Nick McCord (11) and Donald Rhinehimer

Steven White (44) and Matt McFadden

McCord led the Astros (8-11, 7-7) with 12 points in a 58-40 Southern Buckeye Conference win over Blanchester (4-15, 2-12) Friday.

“He’s a good kid who works hard each and every day,” Briggs said about McCord. “He definitely deserves it.”

It was East Clinton’s first win over a county rival this season in six tries. East Clinton lost to Blanchester in two previous meetings this season.

“I’m happy for our seniors, especially with it being the last (regular season) game versus a county opponent,” Briggs said. “They definitely probably enjoyed this more than any win this year.”

McCord scored seven of East Clinton’s first nine points. He blocked another shot that led to two more points and an 11-4 Astro lead.

Blanchester was able to get to within 13-12 late in the first period before EC rattled off the quarter’s last four points.

The last two came on a McCord layup to beat the buzzer.

“Playing JV got the blood flowing, so I wasn’t really nervous,” McCord said about his first varsity start. “It was nice to get the momentum and get after it right off the bat. I didn’t know I had nine points in the first quarter (or led the team in scoring) until now. I was glad we were winning and getting out to a lead.”

It was back-and-forth most of the second period. East Clinton maintained its five-point lead heading into the intermission.

The Astros doubled their lead by the 3:45 mark of the third quarter. Steve Sodini scored on back-to-back possessions to give East Clinton a 40-29 lead.

“We’ve preached all year that the first two to three minutes of the third quarter are important, especially when the other team is down,” Briggs said.

EC scored six unanswered points during the next two minutes to extend its lead to 46-29.

“Ryan did a good job having them ready for everything we threw at them,” Blanchester head coach Bennie Carroll said. “They played hard and well. We didn’t have any energy. They just outplayed us. They played with a little more energy.”

Sodini and Steve McFadden held Blanchester’s A.J. Wiley to two points.

“Both Steves did a good defensive job on Wiley,” Briggs said. “The key to slowing down Blanchester is slowing down Wiley.”

Steven White led the Wildcats with 12 points.

East Clinton starter Justin Kessler left the game with a leg injury a minute into the fourth quarter and did not return to the game.

East Clinton also won the reserve and freshmen contests. Grant Houck scored 11 points in the 31-21 reserve victory. Reed Gerber and Clint Snow had 14 each in the 48-36 freshmen victory.

Ty King was the leading scorer for Blan’s reserves. Caleb McCullough and Jack Davenport had 11 points each for the Wildcat freshmen.

East Clinton’s reserves are 8-11 overall and 6-8 in the conference. Blan falls to 6-13 overall and 5-9 in the conference.

The Astro freshmen up their record to 9-8 and 8-4. Blanchester’s record was unavailable.

SUMMARY

EC — 17 11 20 10 — 58

BLAN — 12 11 10 7 — 40

EC (58) — Stewart 2-1-5, McCord 5-2-12, Sodini 4-0-8, Kessler 3-0-6, M. McFadden 4-2-10, Dyer 1-0-2, Wilson 3-0-6, Hughes 1-0-2, Bond 0-2-2, Ison 0-0-0, S. McFadden 2-0-5. TOTALS 25-7-58. 3-pointers — 1 (S. McFadden). FTM-FTA 7-12, 58 percent.

BLAN (40) — Barnes 0-0-0, Lewis 1-3-5, Wiley 1-0-2, Rhinehimer 2-0-5, White 5-2-12, Ballinger 2-0-4, Starks 3-0-6, Freeman 0-0-0, Bolin 1-0-2, Slocum 0-0-0, Swormstedt 0-4-4, Cook 0-0-0. TOTALS 15-9-40. 3-pointers — 1 (Rhinehimer). FTM-FTA 9-9, 100 percent.