ADAMS TOWNSHIP — Wilmington turned away two Clinton-Massie chances in the final seconds to escape with a 53-50 victory in a matchup of Southern Buckeye Conference American Division and county rivals.
Wilmington missed three of four free throws to give the Falcons the opportunity. Massie’s game-tying three-point attempt hit the front of the iron and caromed to a Falcon. But an immediate turnover ended all hopes of Massie’s first victory of the season.
The Falcons (0-10, 0-5) scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to lead 45-41 with 4:51 left.
“We had an opportunity to stretch the lead a little bit. We had a couple possessions we couldn’t execute. Offense got a little stagnant,” CM head coach Steve Graves said.
The Hurricane (6-7, 1-4) took the lead for good, 48-47, with 2:17 to go in the contest.
A Wilmington steal and layup made it 50-47 with 89 seconds left. It broke Massie pressure for an easy bucket with 27 seconds left to lead 52-48.
Wilmington scored the first five points of the game, led 12-6 midway through the first quarter and then led 24-13 early in the second quarter.
CM chipped away at the Hurricane cushion to draw within a point, 29-28, by the intermission.
“We weathered the storm early,” Graves said. “We just had some costly turnovers down the stretch. We just have to learn how to win. We have got to get these guys to understand what it takes to finish games. It’s going to come.”
Wilmington led all of the third quarter, but by no more than six points.
“We just let our guard down,” Wilmington head coach Matt Kramer. “We jumped up and played really well to do that. Then we stopped doing all the things that got us that lead.
“We did everything we needed to do at the end to win. The first five and a half minutes were really good and the last four and a half showed some guts.”
Three Hurricane reached double-figures, led by Kendal France with 14. Brandon Glass added 12 while Brady Vilvens chipped in with 11.
Carter Euton and Blake Ireland led Massie with 11 each.
SUMMARY
Jan 22, 2021
@Lebanon Road gym
Wilmington 53 Clinton-Massie 50
W^22^7^12^12^^53
CM^13^15^7^15^^50
(53) WILMINGTON (fg-ft-tp) Butcher 3-1-8, Glass 5-0-12, France 7-0-14, Vilvens 4-1-11, Blessing 1-0-2, Baltazar 2-0-5, Brown 0-1-1, Bernhardt 0-0-0, Barker 0-0-0. Total 22-3-53. 3-point goals: 6 (Vilvens 2, Glass 2, Butcher, Baltazar) FTM-FTA 3-7, 43 percent.
(50) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-ft-tp) Euton 4-3-11, Zantene 2-1-5, Meyers 2-2-7, Ireland 3-4-11, Redman 4-0-8, Conrad 2-0-5, Stulz 1-0-2, Russell 0-0-0, Muterspaw 0-1-1. Total 18-11-50. 3-point goals: 3 (Conrad, Meyers, Ireland). FTM-FTA 11-13, 85 percent.
