SHARONVILLE — Clinton-Massie head coach Todd Cook liked the fight he saw in his team’s 61-28 loss to Cincinnati Hughes in a Division II boys sectional at Princeton High School Wednesday.
“These kids never give up. They continue to fight until the buzzer goes off,” he said. “Tonight, we faced a very, very good team. They can shoot the ball from the outside extremely well. They have about 10 guys who can do that and they can get to the basket extremely well also. They are so quick, it makes it tough on you to run anything.”
The game was tight early before Hughes (19-5) pulled away for a 31-13 halftime lead.
“We came out and handled the ball a little bit better,” Cook said. “And then, they created some turnovers, two or three in a row, and that turned the game around really quick. The way our season has gone, if we turn the ball over two times in a row, we’re looking at a pretty bad spell.”
Hughes’ lead never fell below 20 after its first bucket of the second half. It’s lead hit 30 near the end of the third quarter. The Big Red’s first bucket of the final period, a three, forced a running clock, which occurs when there’s a 35-point difference in the second half. That lasted for about five minutes, until Massie scored six straight points to end the game.
Senior Nate Baker led the Falcons with 11 points. Big Red Cameron McKenzie led all scorers with 20 points.
Despite Massie’s season ending at 2-21, Cook sees a wealth of experience returning for next year.
“Two sophomores started at points during the year and got good quality minutes. Two juniors got good quality minutes throughout the season. We have a freshman who was dressing some (varsity),” Cook said. “These kids have plenty of experience to know the speed and talent at the varsity level.
“Building off tonight, the kids just continue to keep on working and having that attitude of we’re going to try to get better.”
SUMMARY
Feb 26, 2020
@Princeton High School
Hughes 61 Clinton-Massie 28
H^19^12^24^6^^61
CM^9^4^9^6^^28
(61) HUGHES (fg-3fg-ft-tp) James 1-0-0-2 Martin 6-2-1-15 Maddon-Saxon 1-0-0-2 Thomas 6-2-0-14 McKenzie 9-2-0-20 Carden 1-1-0-3 Tolbert 0-0-0-0 Good 1-1-0-3 Wilson 1-0-0-2 Sparks 0-0-0-0 Booker 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 26-8-1-61
(28) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Olberding 2-0-1-5 Baker 5-0-1-11 Lamb 1-0-0-2 Faucett 1-1-0-3 Ireland 1-0-0-2 Redman 0-0-0-0 Euton 1-1-2-5 Meyers 0-0-0-0 Stulz 0-0-0-0 TOTALS 11-2-4-28
FIELD GOALS: H (26-50) McKenzie 9-16 Thomas 6-11 Martin 6-11; CM (11-34) Baker 5-7
3 PT FIELD GOALS: H (8-19) Thomas 2-4 McKenzie 2-4; CM (2-11) Faucett 1-3
FREE THROWS: H (1-1); CM (4-5)
REBOUNDS: H-27 (James 7); CM-21 (Baker 4 Olberding 3 Lamb 2 Faucett 2 Redman 2 Euton 2)
ASSISTS: H-16 (Thomas 7); CM-9 (Olberding 2 Ireland 2)
STEALS: H-11 (Thomas 5); CM-3 (Ireland 2)
BLOCKED SHOTS: H-1; CM-0
TURNOVERS: H-6; CM-18
