ADAMS TOWNSHIP — Dominant runs in the second and third quarters allowed Clinton-Massie to defeat county rival Blanchester 68-54 in each team’s final game of 2023 Friday night at Brian P. Mudd Court.
The win ended a 4-game losing streak for CM putting them back at .500 on the season while Blanchester falls to 2-5.
“We’re finally locked in again man,” Massie coach Stephen Graves said after the game. “We talked about it last night, being locked in, finding that fire, finding that grit again, and it was there tonight man. The guys were locked in from start to finish, I think what really set the tone early was on the first possession of the game, Avden Faucett took a charge. That just got everybody fired up and from there we were ready to roll.
“It was there. You could tell, the vibe in the locker room, they had music going before the game, we didn’t have that last night. I’m a little superstitious like that but you could tell, they were really dialed in and ready to go.”
Despite some early inside dominance from the Falcons that allowed them to open with a 4-0 lead, the two teams battled the majority of the first quarter going nearly bucket for bucket. It seemed like neither team could find much separation until late in the quarter when the Wildcats strung together some buckets to take a 16-11 lead.
The Falcons didn’t seem too worried, though, as Cale Wilson wiggled his way inside to get a bucket and a few possessions later Ryan Dillion knocked down a couple at the line. This small run for CM culminated in a Miles Theetge buzzer beater lay in for a 17-16 lead into the second period.
Blanchester head coach Mike Malott was not pleased with his teams defense at the end of the first saying, “Early on, we were not doing a very good job with our drive help. (Cale) Wilson is a heck of a player and we were not helping with him, they got some easy buckets, we just weren’t getting the stops we needed defensively at that point.”
The early second quarter saw even more back-and-forth play. The most separation either team could muster was a three-point lead from CM that was instantly erased when Jansen Wymer came off an off-ball screen to knock down the long ball, but the very next play, Wilson again got inside and knocked one down as the two teams went into a timeout.
Following the timeout, Clinton-Massie found a spark and went on a 13-4 run to end the first half. CM took a 37-27 lead into halftime.
Massie stayed hot in the second half forcing a turnover on the opening possession that led to a Theetge layup. A couple of possessions later, CM did it again, forcing a Blanchester timeout. This hot play style of forcing turnovers and capitalizing resulted in a 10-0 run that gave CM a 20-point lead before the Wildcats could score again.
“That is where we continued to struggle with pressure, that’s something we have to continue to get better at. It’s hard to play defense when you’re giving them the ball going to the other end for easy lay ups,” said Malott.
Both teams will be back in action Tuesday with Blan taking on Clermont Northeastern and CM going against Greenfield McClain.
SUMMARY
Dec 30, 2023
@Brian P. Mudd Court
Clinton-Massie 68, Blanchester 54
B^16^11^7^20^^54
CM^17^20^17^14^^68
(68) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Rodman 1-0-0-2, Theetge 8-0-2-18, Dillion 1-2-2-10, Flint 1-0-0-2, Faucett 2-1-1-8, Denehy 0-0-0-0, Wilson 8-0-2-18, Trout 3-0-2-8, Leahy 1-0-0-2, Phipps 0-0-0-0, McCoy 0-0-0-0, TOTALS 0-0-0-0
(54) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Sipple 2-0-10-14, Tangonan 1-1-0-5, Burress 0-0-0-0, Taylor 0-0-0-0, Wymer 0-3-2-11, Culberson 1-0-0-2, Cromer 7-0-2-16, Byrom 0-0-0-0, Malott 0-2-0-6, Bradley 0-0-0-0
