WAVERLY — The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs traveled to Waverly on Tuesday and battled the Piketon Redstreaks a Southeast Division III Sectional Semi Final game and lost 55-22.
“They just cranked up the pressure and we didn’t handle it very well,” said Lynchburg-Clay Head Coach Matt Carson. “Then we got down and couldn’t quite recover.”
The Mustangs opened the game strong as Ray Conner won the tip and scored inside in the opening minutes to put Lynchburg-Clay up 2-0 early.
The Redstreaks answered and tied it at four with 4:32 to play in the first quarter before a three pointer by Noah Miller gave the Mustangs a 7-5 lead a short time later.
From there Piketon finished the quarter on a 6-1 run and led 11-8 after one quarter had been completed.
Piketon opened the second quarter by forcing a turnover and finishing in transition before Conner hit a layup and converted the and one opportunity to get Lynchburg-Clay within two points at 13-11.
The Redstreaks had seen enough however and held the Mustangs scoreless for the final 7:25 of the first half.
Piketon continued to pour it on offensively as their defense gave life to their offense and they scored 27 points to take a 40-11 halftime lead.
The Mustangs were able to muster eight points in the third quarter but Piketon added 15 to their total and cruised into the fourth with a 55-19 lead over the Mustangs.
Lynchburg-Clay outscored the Redstreaks three to nothing in the fourth quarte of play but it was not nearly enough to threaten the Piketon victory by a final score of 55-22.
Carson reflected on the season by saying, “I think some of the growing pains we went through this year, hopefully we can use that as a learning tool and work on that stuff this summer and come back and be better. I believe we will.”
Score by quarters
LCHS 8-3-8-3
PHS 11-29-15-0
Lynchburg-Clay: Smaltz 2-1/2-5; Miller (1)-2/2-5; Marcelino 1-2; Stevens 2/2-2; Conner 3-2/3-8
Totals: 6(1)-7/10-22
Piketon: Blanton 8-1/2-17; Leedy 1-2; Nichols 2-4; Thacker 2/2-2; Lightle 4-2/4-10; Chandler 2(3)-0/2-13; Harris 3-1/1-7
Totals: 20(3)-6/14-55
Ryan Applegate is the sports editor for The Times-Gazette. Reach Ryan Applegate at 937-402-2572, or on Twitter @RCApplegate89.
