BLANCHESTER — Leading by as many as 24 points in the second half, Blanchester withstood a late East Clinton run to defeat the Astros 71-61 Tuesday night at BHS.
The win breaks a five-game losing streak for Blanchester (1-5 overall, 1-3 SBC National) to open the season. After winning its first three games of the year, the Astros (3-4, 0-3) have now lost four straight.
After trailing 13-6 in the first quarter, Blanchester outscored East Clinton 38-12 over the last 11:45 of the first half to take a 44-25 lead into the break.
“The key to the second quarter is that there was not one selfish play,” BHS head coach Adam Weber said. “They were working together, and that’s why it was successful.”
An 8-2 Astro run to open the third quarter cut Blanchester’s lead to 46-33 with 6:08 left in the third. The Wildcats answered with a 13-2 run over the next three minutes to push its lead to 59-35 with 2:56 left.
Trailing 61-38 with 1:55 left in the third, East Clinton rallied again with a 14-0 run to pull within nine, 61-52, with 4:15 left. Blanchester made six of its next eight from the free throw line to put the game away.
“Our kids don’t stop,” EC head coach Phil Shori said. “Our kids play extremely hard all the time. That’s not something that every coach can say. It’s evident to everyone out there that our kids go at it.”
Brison Lucas led Blanchester with 17 points on 6 of 13 from the floor. He also had three assists and three steals.
“He’s one of the quickest players in the league,” Weber said. “He struggled with finishing early because he would launch out of control. We knew we were going to get to the rim. We had to use good balance, and tonight it all clicked.”
In addition, Justin Hogsett and Gabe McVey each added 11 points for BHS. Blanchester made 26 of 40 from the free throw line and shot 47.7% from the floor (21 of 44).
Isaiah Curtis led EC with 17 points. Matej Jostak added a double-double, scoring 13 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. East Clinton made 11 of 15 from the line but shot just 38.2% (21 of 55) from the field.
SUMMARY
Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021
At Blanchester High School
Blanchester 71, East Clinton 61
EC^14^11^20^16^^61
B^21^23^17^10^^71
(61) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Isaiah Curtis 5-5-2-17, Jared Smith 3-0-4-10, Landon Runyon 3-1-2-9, Matej Jostak 5-1-2-13, Justin Arnold 4-1-0-9, Dameon Williams 1-0-1-3. TOTALS 21-8-11-61.
(71) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Bryce Sipple 1-0-2-4, Brison Lucas 6-1-4-17, Austin Dick 2-0-1-5, Seth Akers 2-1-2-7, Dylan Creager 0-0-2-2, Zach West 3-1-0-7, Justin Hogsett 3-0-5-11, Gabe McVey 2-0-7-11, Andrew Osborn 2-0-3-7. TOTALS 21-3-26-71.
FIELD GOALS: EC 21/55 (Curtis 5/10, Jostak 5/15, Arnold 4/6); B 21/44 (Lucas 6/13, West 3/6, Hogsett 3/4)
3 POINT FIELD GOALS: EC 8/26 (Curtis 5/8); B 3/11
FREE THROWS: EC 11/15 (Smith 4/6); B 26/40 (McVey 7/8, Hogsett 5/8, Lucas 4/6)
REBOUNDS: EC 36 (Jostak 10, Arnold 7, Smith 5); B 33 (Akers 6, Hogsett 5, Osborn 5, Dick 5)
ASSISTS: EC 11 (Runyon 3, Curtis 3); B 9 (Lucas 3)
STEALS: EC 5 (Smith 3); B 13 (Lucas 3)
BLOCKED SHOTS: EC 0; B 1 (Osborn)
TURNOVERS: EC 18; B 13
