MOUNT ORAB — A fast start by Western Brown Friday night was just enough as the Broncos held off the defending SBC American Division champion Clinton-Massie Falcons 53-42.
Western Brown (1-1) outscored Clinton-Massie (0-1) 18-8 in the opening quarter. Bronco guard Zyon Tull knocked down three of Western Brown’s four three-point shots in the first.
“I don’t think we came out and defended the three like we thought we should,” CM head coach Todd Cook said. “We worked for two weeks on defending their offenses. We knew exactly what they would be doing.
“(Western Brown) is a streaky team. We told our team that they were going to get hot at some point in time.”
Clinton-Massie ramped up the defensive pressure in the second quarter and climbed back into the game. An 11-2 run to open the period pulled the Falcons within one, 20-19.
The fourth and final three of the night from Western Brown, this time by Ian Shaffer, gave WBHS a 27-23 halftime advantage.
It was a story of missed opportunities for the Falcons in the third, as they teetered between two and four points down for much of the quarter.
A 9-2 Western Brown run to end the third quarter pushed the Bronco lead up to nine, 40-31.
Clinton-Massie again chipped away in the fourth, pulling to within five on two different occasions. It was 46-41 Broncos with 3:06 remaining after two Austin Faucett free throws, but that was as close as the Falcons would get the rest of the way.
Tull scored 12 of his game-high 18 points in the first quarter. He also had eight rebounds and four assists.
Outside of Western Brown’s hot start, it was a tough night behind the arc for both teams. Clinton-Massie made just 2 of 15 from three. After making 3 of 6 to start the game, Western Brown made just 1 of their final 11 from downtown.
Tate Olberding led Clinton-Massie with 15 points and eight rebounds. Brendan Lamb added eight points and three steals.
“I thought we worked just as hard as them,” Cook said. “I thought they played smarter than we did. This team will never give up. The whole roster is athletic. They’re going to work hard. I thought a few of the bench players came in and did a very good job on the defense side and really got the chaos going for us.”
SUMMARY
Friday, Dec. 6, 2019
At Western Brown High School
Western Brown 53, Clinton-Massie 42
CM^8^15^8^11^^42
WB^18^9^13^13^^53
(42) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Jordan Redman 1-0-0-2, Carter Euton 2-2-0-6, Brendan Lamb 4-0-0-8, Austin Faucett 1-0-4-6, Blake Ireland 1-0-0-2, Tate Olberding 6-0-3-15, Nate Baker 1-0-0-2, Logan Meyers 0-0-1-1. TOTALS 16-2-8-42.
(53) WESTERN BROWN (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Yani Williams 2-0-2-6, Chance Moore 3-0-0-6, Colton Carroll 1-0-4-6, Ian Shaffer 3-1-0-7, Dylan Novak 2-0-0-4, Zyon Tull 5-3-5-18, Drew Novak 2-0-2-6. TOTALS 18-4-13-53.
FIELD GOALS: CM 16/45 (Olberding 6/12, Lamb 4/10); WB 18/49 (Tull 5/14, Moore 3/7, Shaffer 3/10)
3 POINT FIELD GOALS: CM 2/15 (Euton 2/7); WB 4/17 (Tull 3/6)
FREE THROWS: CM 8/14 (Faucett 4/6); WB 13/22 (Tull 5/8, Carroll 4/6)
REBOUNDS: CM 36 (Olberding 8, Baker 4, Euton 4); WB 33 (Williams 9, Tull 8, Novak 6)
ASSISTS: CM 5 (Faucett 3); WB 8 (Tull 4)
STEALS: CM 10 (Lamb 3, Faucett 3); WB 13 (Shaffer 6)
BLOCKED SHOTS: CM 1 (Olberding); WB 1 (Novak)
TURNOVERS: CM 22; WB 16
