MT. ORAB — East Clinton struggled from the opening tip Friday and once No. 4 North College Hill Trojans (20-3) got things going offensively, the Astros could not stay with them.
NCH polished off the Astros 84-36 in Div. III boys sectional tournament game at Western Brown High School. With the loss, the Astros close out the season at 7-16.
The Trojans led 18-6 at the first quarter break and blitzed the Astros with a 29-10 second quarter. It was all Trojans, 47-16, at the intermission. NCH lit up the scoreboard with a 25 point effort in the third quarter, making it a 72-25 contest after three periods.
Four NCH starters reached double figures, led by Kenny Thompson’s 22 points. Jujuan Linzy added 17 points, followed by Kameron Thompson with 12 points and Anthony Mayes scored 10.
East Clinton’s top scorer was senior Jonny Blair with 10 points. Wyatt Floyd added six points and senior Josh Moskal scored five points for East Clinton. It was the final game for several EC seniors — Cole Jenkins, Griff Campbell, Austin Mercer, Brian Barnes, Paul Luttrell and DJ Luttrell.
“We just could not contain them,” said East Clinton coach Roger Earley. “They played extremely well, moved the ball well, and made their shots. I felt we were somewhat intimidated by them and just could not get any momentum or rhythm going out there tonight. After the first few minutes and then in that second quarter ,things just snowballed on us. The spread was something like eight or 10 points, then it jumped to 20 and we could not recover. “
Earley went on to say that this game mirrored the type of drawbacks he, coach Tony Berlin and the coaching staff experienced with the Astros this season.
“You have to deal with adversity and we have had our share of it this season,” Earley said. “What coach Berlin and our assistants tried throughout the season was to make this a learning experience. At times, we came together as a team and sometimes it did not happen. They’re a great group of kids and we’re gonna miss the seniors. But, we have a good group of players returning and at times tonight we had some of the under-classmen out there who will comprise the make-up of the varsity team next year.”
SUMMARY
Feb 19, 2016
@Western Brown High School
North College Hill 84 East Clinton 36
N 18.29.25.12…..84
E 06.10.09.11…..36
(36) EAST CLINTON (2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Blair 4-0-2-10, Mercer 1-0-0-2, Moskal 1-1-0-5, Barnes 1-0-0-2, Floyd 3-0-0-6, Connor 1-0-0-2, DJ Luttrell 2-0-0-4, Hanners 1-0-1-3, Vadnais 1-0-0-2. TOTALS 15-1-3-36
(84) NORTH COLLEGE HILL (2fg-3fg-ft-tp) Kameron Thompson 4-0-4-12, Kenny Thompson 5-3-3-22,Linzy 4-3-0-17, Mayes 2-2-0-10, Packer 3-0-0-6, Sparks 1-1-2-7, White 1-0-0-2, Quadi 1-0-0-2, Swain 1-0-2-4, Steward 1-0-0-2. TOTALS 23-9-11-84.
