Blue Lions claw Astros in SCOL battle 69-55

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LEES CREEK — The East Clinton boys basketball team dropped a South Central Ohio League battle Friday night to Washington 69-55 at the EC gym.

The Astros drop to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in league play.

Washington hit 10 three-point field goals and had five players in double figures in scoring. For the Blue Lions, sophomore Evan Upthegrove led with 15 points. He hit three three-pointers.

Senior Jarett Patton scored 14 and fellow seniors Kenny Upthegrove and Griffin Shaw scored 13 points each.

For the Astros, junior Wyatt Floyd was the game’s leading scorer with 23 points. He hit all three of his team’s three-point baskets. Junior J.T. McCarren added 20 points.

“First of all, let me say that Shannon (Washington head coach Bartruff) is a very good coach,” East Clinton head coach Tony Berlin said. “His kids play hard for him.

“He had five players in double figures tonight, which is even scoring. That shows that they share the ball well.”

Berlin attributed that, at least partially, to his team’s defense.

“I wasn’t too pleased with the way we played on the defensive end,” Berlin said. “We played Hillsboro Tuesday night and I was pretty pleased with the way our defense was going. We gave up 10 threes tonight. Our rotations were slow and, giving up 69 points, we’re not going to beat very many teams when we do that.

“We have to get better and work on our weaknesses and try to get them fixed. My kids do play hard, but, in the end, it’s all about the defense. We have to hold teams to around 50 points, but, we didn’t do that tonight.”

The lead changed hands three times in the early going.

The Astros led 7-6 with 4:20 to play in the first quarter. Unfortunately for East Clinton, they would trail the remainder of the ball game. The Blue Lions led 14-9 at the end of one period of action.

With just under six minutes to play in the second quarter, the Astros pulled to within two points, 19-17. They would come no closer on this night.

The Blue Lions led by 11 on back-to-back threes by Shaw, 30-19. Floyd hit a three at the buzzer to cut Washington’s lead to 34-27 at the half.

Washington led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter. East Clinton got within seven points at one point in the third. The Blue Lions’ lead fluctuated between 10 to 15 points as the teams continued the back-and-forth play in the fourth quarter. There were no serious runs for either side.

East Clinton (2-2 overall, 1-1 SCOL) plays at Greeneview Saturday and travels to Wilmington on Tuesday.

SUMMARY

December 9, 2016

@East Clinton High School

Washington 69 East Clinton 55

W 14.20.18.17…..69

E 11.16.14.14…..55

(69) WASHINGTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Dillon Steward 0-0-0; Jarett Patton 4 (1)-3-14; Evan Upthegrove 3 (3)-0-15; Kory Proby 2-0-4; Kenny Upthegrove 2 (3)-0-13; Griffin Shaw 2 (3)-0-13; Richard Burns Jr. 5-0-10. TOTALS — 18 (10)-3-69. Free throw shooting: 3 of 7 for 43 percent. Three-point field goals: E. Upthegrove, 3; K. Upthegrove, 3; Shaw, 3; Patton. Field goal shooting: 28 of 52 for 54 percent. Turnovers: 10.

(55) EAST CLINTON Brendon Jenkins 0-0-0; J.T. McCarren 10-0-20; Alex Pence 3-0-6; Zach Mitchell 0-0-0; Wyatt Floyd 3 (3)-8-23; Cameron Conner 3-0-6; Jacob Olds 0-0-0; Matt Mitchell 0-0-0. TOTALS — 19 (3)-8-55. Free throw shooting: 8 of 9 for 89 percent. Three-point field goals: Floyd, 3. Field goal shooting: 22 of 49 for 45 percent. Turnovers: 18.

http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2016/12/web1_BBK_ec_WyattFLoyd_RH.jpg

Matt Mitchell goes up for a rebound for East Clinton during Friday night’s game against Washington.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/22/2016/12/web1_BBK_ec_MattMitchell_RH.jpgMatt Mitchell goes up for a rebound for East Clinton during Friday night’s game against Washington. Chris Hoppes | Civitas Media

By Chris Hoppes

Civitas Media

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