John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
BAINBRIDGE — Paint Valley paid homage to icy weather with its first quarter shooting on Thursday, but then turned up the heat offensively over the final 24 minutes in a 57-51 victory over visiting Lynchburg-Clay.
CREDIT: Cory Hall/SOSA
The Bearcats (8-3) shot just 23 percent in the first quarter. But over the final three frames, they were scolding hot at 60 percent.
As they say, it’s not about how you start. It’s about how you finish.
“We started off slow but you just have to keep your head in the game,” PV’s Cole Miller said. “Don’t give up. Keep playing. My teammates gave me some open looks to get me started. Once we got rolling, we did well.”
Neither team put on an offensive display early with the Mustangs’ zone defense causing trouble for the Bearcats. Meanwhile, Paint Valley’s length made scoring tough for the Mustangs as well.
Paint Valley’s Dax Estep pushed the Bearcat attack forward with multiple offensive rebounds and putbacks in the early going while Ian Waits knocked down a triple before getting a steal and a layup for the Mustangs.
A midrange jumper from LC’s Bryce Binkley with time running down in the first gave the Mustangs a 9-7 lead after eight minutes of play.
The second saw a jump in quality of play on both ends as the Bearcats used a deep trey from Braylon Robertson to open up the Mustangs’ zone.
Lynchburg attacked the Bearcats’ ball-handlers, leading to turnovers and a couple of easy hoops. Estep and Lynchburg’s Brady Chisman started to match each other shot for shot, with Chisman converting a pair of free throws to close the half and send the teams to the locker rooms at a 20-20 stalemate.
The Mustangs (4-5) came sprinting out of the gates in the second half with triples from Chisman and Waits to take an early lead. But the Bearcats responded with another triple from Robertson before Estep announced his presence with authority, scoring six straight points to give the Bearcats a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
“They came out in a zone and my spot is in the middle, so I knew that if I could just catch and fix up [his position], I could just go score,” Estep said.
The third quarter was capped by a 3 from Todd Fairrow off a pass from Estep to give the Bearcats a 34-30 lead heading into the fourth.
The Mustangs picked up the defensive pressure in the fourth, which helped bring them within one point on multiple occasions. However, the Bearcats began to break the pressure, leading to several runout baskets for Cole Miller, Cavan Cooper and Carson Free.
Free finished with seven points in the contest, with all of them coming in the final stanza.
“It’s all about confidence,” Estep said. “If [Free] is confident, he can score whenever he wants. Carson is big and physical. He handles the ball really well. He can score anytime he wants. It’s just about confidence.”
Binkley did everything he could to keep the Mustangs in the game, scoring 12 of his 16 points in the final quarter, including a deep trey with 10 seconds left to cut the Bearcats’ lead to four. But Estep was then fouled on the inbound pass and buried both ends of the bonus to push the Bearcats to 8-3 on the season.
“We just have to keep doing what we’re doing,” Miller said. “We had a really bad stretch where we lost three straight games to some decent teams. But we got back in the gym and started working hard. We just have to keep doing that and practicing hard to get back to where we need to be.”
Paint Valley was led in scoring and rebounding by Estep with 21 points and 12 rebounds. Miller joined Estep in double figures with 12 points. Cooper, Estep and Robertson each had three assists for the Bearcats.
Lynchburg-Clay had two in double-digit scoring figures in Chisman with 17 and Binkley with 16. Logan Shope led the Mustangs in rebounding with nine boards.
The Bearcats will return to action on Jan. 6 when they travel to Adena. After a 57-55 loss to Williamsburg on Friday, the Mustangs will now try to get back in the win column on Tuesday at McClain.
BOX SCORE
Lynchburg-Clay: 9-11-10-21 — 51
Paint Valley: 7-13-14-23 — 57
Lynchburg-Clay: 21-49 FG, 2-3 FT, 7-18 3pt., 20 rebounds (Shope 9), 15 turnovers, 10 assists (Chisman 3). Scoring: Chisman 17, Binkley 16, Shope 8, Waits 8, Clinton 2.
Paint Valley: 24-48 field goals, 6-8 FT, 3-11 3Pt., 32 rebounds (Estep 12), 18 turnovers, 12 assists (Cooper 3, Estep 3, Robertson 3). Scoring: Estep 21, Miller 12, Cooper 8, Free 7, Robertson 6, Fairrow 3.
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