LEES CREEK — Hunter Ruckel’s three-pointer at the buzzer lifted Whiteoak to a 63-62 win Saturday over East Clinton in a non-league boys basketball game at ECHS.
Wyatt Floyd led the Astros with 26 points. JT McCarren had 24.
Ruckel led the Wildcats with 16 points. Trever Yeager had 14 and Traeten Hamilton had 12.
East Clinton head coach Tony Berlin didn’t have much to say other than his team was simply “outplayed tonight.”
The Astros got off to a good start in the first quarter. Led by Floyd, who had 13 points in the first. Six players scored for the Wildcats in the first but the Astros led 19-14 going to the second quarter.
East Clinton’s lead dwindled to four in the second but a late stretch by East Clinton prohibited anything else and the Astros kept their five-point lead going into the second half.
The third quarter started off all Wildcats. Midway through the quarter the Wildcats were able to take a four-point lead As Hamilton scored seven points.
The Astros, however, answered soon after with a few baskets of their own to bring the game close again and Whiteoak went into the fourth quarter with a one-point advantage, 44-43.
A few minutes into the fourth quarter the Astros were able to get off to a seven-point lead. McCarren was the spark offensively with 15 points in the quarter.
With less than 10 seconds left in the game, Whiteoak closed the lead to two points. After grabbing a rebound on the defensive end, the Wildcats had the ball when Ruckel fired up a buzzer beating 3 pointer that gave them the one-point win.
East Clinton was just 4-for-13 at the free throw line in the fourth and just 12-for-26 for the game. Whiteoak was only 3-for-10 in the fourth and 7-for-23 for the game.
SUMMARY
FEBRUARY 11, 2017
@East Clinton High School
Whiteoak 63 East Clinton 62
W 14.13.17.19…..63
E 19.13.11.19…..62
(63) WHITEOAK (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Crowe 3-0-2/7-8 Skinner 1-0-0-2 Hamilton 6-1-1/4-12 Ross 2-1-0-5 Carr 1-1-0-3 Ruckel 9-3-1/1-16 Ison 0-0-0-0 Yeager 6-0-2/2-14 Wissel 1-0-1/2-3. TOTALS 31-6-7/23-63
(62) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Jenkins 1-0-3/4-5 McCarren 10-0-4/6-24 Pence 0-0-0/2-0 Z. Mitchell 0-0-0-0 Floyd 12-3-5/12-26 Conner 1-0-0/2-2 Olds 1-0-0-2 M. Mitchell 1-1-0-3. TOTALS 27-4-12/26-62
