BLANCHESTER — It only took Blanchester’s Brayden Sipple 19 minutes and 15 seconds into the 2019-2020 boys basketball season to make history.
It likely won’t be the last milestone for the Wildcat junior.
Sipple hit two free throws with 4:45 left in the third quarter Wednesday night of an 85-56 rout of Lockland to give him the all-time Blanchester boys basketball career scoring record.
His crossing of the 27-point threshold was the only drama on the night. After scoring 19 before halftime, his passing of first Bob Jacoby, then Todd Lane was inevitable.
“It’s exciting,” Sipple said. “It’s something I’ve dreamed about forever, ever since I started playing basketball. It’s really special to me.”
Sipple finished the night with 37 points, 17 rebounds, three assists and four steals. The 37 points moves his career total to 1,135. He is 219 behind all-time Blanchester basketball leading scorer Michelle Gephart Elston.
“The final number (of points) he ends up with will be joyful to see,” BHS head coach Adam Weber said. “I hate to put goals out there that might be unattainable, but that Clinton County scoring record might be in jeopardy if he continues on the pace he’s on.”
To reach the top five this season in Clinton County history, he’ll need 695 points to equal Sabina’s Phil Snow for fifth. Wilmington graduate and University of Cincinnati star Jarron Cumberland is the all-time leading scorer with 2,408 points.
It was a shaky start for the Wildcats, playing their first game of the season. Blanchester led 22-17 with 5:40 left in the second quarter. Blan outscored Lockland 22-8 the rest of the half, a run started by three consecutive three-point plays by Sipple.
“Once we figured out the press wouldn’t be as effective as we would like, we just locked it down man-to-man and everything changed from there,” Weber said. “Our team is the most downhill, fastest team we’ve seen here in a long time.”
Blanchester continued to extend the lead, pushing the advantage to as many as 37 in the fourth quarter.
Tanner Creager had a strong night as well for the Wildcats, scoring 17 points and dishing out four assists. Hunter Bare had 12 points and eight rebounds.
No Lockland Panthers reached double digits in scoring. Arryn Thomas led Lockland (1-3) with nine points and eight rebounds. Montana Cottrell had eight points. Lockland made just 9 of 36 from three-point range.
The night was about Sipple, who got to break the record in front of a large crowd at Blanchester High School.
“We have a great fanbase,” Sipple said. “They’re loyal to us. It was special.”
SUMMARY
Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2019
At Blanchester High School
Blanchester 85, Lockland 56
L^10^15^16^15^^56
B^18^26^24^17&&85
(56) LOCKLAND (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Tiontae Hicks 1-1-2-5, Deiondra Thomas 3-2-0-8, Brian McGeorge 1-1-1-4, Montana Cottrell 3-2-0-8, Shamar Thompson 1-0-02, Jarail Holmes 3-0-0-6, Jonah Cromer 1-1-0-3, Denzale Hunter 1-1-1-4, Darren Talbert 2-1-0-5, Arryn Thomas 4-0-1-9, Alex Hicks 1-0-0-2. TOTALS 21-9-5-56.
(85) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Brison Lucas 2-0-0-4, Braden Roy 2-0-0-4, Tanner Creager 6-1-4-17, Brayden Sipple 11-0-15-37, Jacksson Waialae 3-1-2-9, Jay Ashcraft 1-0-0-2, Hunter Bare 6-0-0-12. TOTALS 31-2-21-85.
FIELD GOALS: L 21/69 (A. Thomas 4/8, D. Thomas 3/10, Cottrell 3/11, Holmes 3/9); B 31/66 (Sipple 11/28, Creager 6/8, Bare 6/11)
3 POINT FIELD GOALS: L 9/36 (Cottrell 2/9); B 2/14
FREE THROWS: L 5/16 (Hicks 2/4); B 21/27 (Sipple 15/16, Creager 4/6)
REBOUNDS: L 36 (A. Thomas 8, D. Thomas 5); B 53 (Sipple 17, Ashcraft 8, Bare 8)
ASSISTS: L 13 (Cottrell 5); B 14 (Creager 4, Sipple 3)
STEALS: L 8; B 10 (Sipple 4)
BLOCKED SHOTS: L 0; B 3 (Sipple 2, Bare 1)
TURNOVERS: L 17; B 20
