WILMINGTON — East Clinton’s boys basketball team closed the second Ohio Valley Hoops Classic Saturday night by turning the heat up on Paint Valley.
The Astros forced 23 Bearcat turnovers, opening up a 24-point lead and then had to hold off a furious Paint Valley charge to win 61-51.
East Clinton turned those 23 turnovers into 34 points, giving Tony Berlin his first victory as the head coach of the Astros.
Berlin was pleased with how his team covered the 94-foot college floor at Fred Raizk Arena.
“We came out with great intensity and effort on both ends of the court,” Berlin said. “I told them being a college floor I was going to need all 14 of them.”
For the first 20 minutes of the game, East Clinton was relentless. After an outstanding first half, EC opened the second half on a 13-2 run to expand its lead to 45-21 with 3:51 left in the third.
“That’s what we want to do with our press,” Berlin said. “We try to take teams out of their offense and cause confusion. Our rotation was pretty good.”
Paint Valley, which struggled to get anything going offensively, finally got rolling.
The Bearcats’ defense improved, keeping the Astros from setting up the press. They also got their 6-10 star Dylan Swingle rolling.
Swingle scored six in a row, starting a 22-4 run that carried into the fourth quarter. The Bearcats pulled within six, 49-43, with 5:20 remaining.
“We got a little complacent in the second half,” Berlin said. “It wasn’t the same enthusiasm or the same intensity. It takes a lot of energy to play 94 feet the whole game.”
Following two Jonny Blair free throws, Swingle scored six more unanswered. The EC lead, once 24 points, was down to two, 51-49, with 1:20 remaining.
East Clinton didn’t allow it to get any closer. Brian Barnes scored and was fouled with 1:07 remaining. The three-point play gave EC a 54-49 lead.
The Astros finished the game off by making seven of eight from the free-throw line in the final 54.7 seconds to secure the win.
Wyatt Floyd led EC with 19 points. Blair had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
Swingle, who as a sophomore already has a scholarship offer from West Virginia, led Paint Valley with 26. All but one of those points came in the last three quarters. He also had 7 rebounds.
“He’s got great footwork, finishes inside, makes his foul shots,” Berlin said of Swingle. “You’ll be watching him on TV someday.”
SUMMARY
Nov. 28, 2015
Ohio Valley Hoops Classic
@Wilmington College Fred Raizk Arena
East Clinton 61, Paint Valley 51
PV 08.11.14.18…..51
EC 15.17.17.12…..61
(51) PAINT VALLEY (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Brauner 1-1-0-3, Swingle 11-0-4-26, Bales 3-0-1-7, Grubb 2-0-0-4, Chrisman 1-1-0-3, Riley 2-0-4-8. TOTALS 20-2-9-51.
(61) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Jenkins 3-0-3-9, Blair 5-0-3-13, Barnes 3-0-3-9, Floyd 9-0-1-19, DJ Luttrell 0-0-4-4, Campbell 1-1-0-3, Mercer 1-0-0-2, Moskal 1-0-0-2. TOTALS 23-1-14-61.
FIELD GOALS: PV 20/47 (Swingle 11/20, Bales 3/3); EC 23/58 (Floyd 9/14, Blair 5/17, Jenkins 3/6, Barnes 3/5)
3 POINT FIELD GOALS: PV 2/10; EC 1/7
FREE THROWS: PV 9/15 (Swingle 4/6, Riley 4/7); EC 14/18 (DJ Luttrell 4/4, Jenkins 3/4, Blair 3/3, Barnes 3/3)
REBOUNDS: PV 32 (Swingle 7, Riley 7, Bales 4); EC 37 (Blair 11, Barnes 7, Campbell 5)
ASSISTS: PV 8 (Brauner 3); EC 7 (Floyd 2)
STEALS: PV 6; EC 16 (Floyd 5, Jenkins 3, McCarren 3)
BLOCKED SHOTS: PV 5 (Swingle 4); EC 1
TURNOVERS: PV 23; EC 15
