MIAMISBURG — A short-handed East Clinton boys basketball team put a valiant effort Tuesday but came up short on the scoreboard 54-47 in a non-league game against Dayton Christian.
Dayton Christian is now 3-5 on the year. East Clinton drops to 2-7.
“I keep saying it but we are getting better,” EC coach Tony Berlin said. “Dayton Christian is a good team, they have size, quickness and good shooters.
“But you can’t give up 18 points in the fourth quarter. We’re working on conditioning a lot over the Christmas break.”
Brian Barnes led the Astros in the scorebook with 16 points while Griffin Campbell scored 14 points.
“Griff is a great kid,” said Berlin. “We can shoot it when he can get his feet set. He’s a spark plug for us when he gets in there.”
Micah Combs led Dayton Christian with 13 points. Brantley Mills had 12 points and Michael Hennen added 10.
East Clinton played without Josh Moskal, Jonny Blair, Austin Mercer, TJ McCarren and Lance Vadnais. They missed the game for a variety of reasons, “ Berlin said.
Barnes had the hot hand early for the Astros, scoring 6 of the team’s 13 first quarter points. However, Dayton Christian held a 16-13 advantage heading into the second quarter.
Barnes poured in 6 points in the second but the Astros still trailed 29-25 at the break.
In the third, East Clinton made a charge. Barnes canned a couple of free throws and Paul Lutrell had a steal and lay-in to tie the game at 29-29 at the 5:40 mark of the third.
The Warriors regained the lead, 33-31, on a dunk by 6-5 center Michael Hennen.
Campbell answered that with a long-range 3-pointer for a 34-33 East Clinton lead with 3:15 to play in the third. Campbell, thanks to a steal by Wyatt Floyd, then made the final basket of the third on a layup at the 2:10 mark. That gave EC a 37-36 lead.
Early in the fourth, Floyd assisted on another Campbell 3-pointer to give East Clinton a 40-38 advantage with 6:55 to play in the game. That would be the Astros last lead of the night.
From there, Hennen, Mills and Micah Combs led a Warriors 10-1 run that put the game away.
“I can see the improvement,” Berlin said. “We just have to learn how to win and show them they deserve to win. Being in games is one thing but there’s only one winner and one loser. And I like to be on the winning end.”
SUMMARY
Dec 29, 2015
@Miamisburg Middle School
Dayton Christian 54 East Clinton 47
DC 16.13.07.18…..54
EC 13.12.12.10…..47
(54) DAYTON CHRISTIAN (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Turner 2-0-0-4 Combs 5-1-2-13 Anderson 2-1-0-5 Winfield 1-0-0-2 Stewart 0-0-0-0 Hillix 0-0-0-0 Hennen 4-0-2-10 Griswold 0-0-0-0 Welker 2-0-4-8 Mills 4-2-2-12. TOTALS 20-4-10/16-54
(47) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Jenkins 0-0-2-2 Campbell 5-4-0-14 Barnes 5-0-6-16 Floyd 2-1-1-6 Conner 0-0-0-0 P. Luttrell 3-1-0-7 DJ Luttrell 1-0-0-2 Irwin 0-0-0-0. TOTALS 16-6-9/13-47
