John Bruce, Staff Writer
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
KINNIKINNICK — Kyle Stonerock was Kyle Stonerock on Tuesday evening.
CREDIT: Derrick Webb/SOSA
Yet again this winter, Stonerock made his presence known early in the paint and was dominant throughout the night on the glass as he led Zane Trace to an overtime win over Westfall.
The narrow 65-60 decision kept the Pioneers (13-3, 10-0 SVC) perfect in the Scioto Valley Conference amidst hopes of a Gold Ball in Kinnikinnick.
“We really want that Gold Ball,” Stonerock said. “That’s especially true for us seniors. This is our year. We really want to come out and go out with a Gold Ball.”
The Pioneers came out of the gates on a hot streak with Xzander Ream burying a pair of triples, alongside another from Brock Jarrell. Ream then brought the Pioneer faithful to their feet with a fast break jam, forcing the Mustangs to call a timeout with 4:36 left in the opening quarter and trailing, 13-2.
Westfall (9-8, 7-3 SVC) changed its defensive strategy in the timeout, deciding to use the combination of Casey Cline and Brydan Gall to face-guard Ream, denying him the ball everywhere on the court. The Mustangs chipped away at the lead with baskets from Cline and Jerry Layton, but Ream was able to get loose for a deep 3 to end the quarter and give the Pioneers a 16-9 lead after one.
While the Mustangs were undersized, they were able to get both Stonerock and Nalin Robinson in foul trouble early in the second quarter. Westfall’s Cline and Brody Clark each knocked down treys to help chip away at the lead, while Jarrell hit another one of his own for the Pioneers.
Zane Trace was able to keep a two point lead at the half, 28-26, and looked to extend it early in the second half with a barrage of 3’s from Landon Robinson, Landen Jarrell and Brock Jarrell. But Westfall’s crafty point guard, Blaec Bugher, began to find lanes to the basket to keep the Mustangs close.
The Pioneers ultimately built their lead to 47-41 after three quarters when Landon Robinson found Stonerock inside for a buzzer-beating layup to end the quarter.
BY THE NUMBERS
Zane Trace continued its hot shooting from 3-point range, making 10-of-19 attempts on the night for 52.6%. The Mustangs were no slouches from distance either, shooting 42.1% on 19 attempts of their own. Both teams took care of the ball, with only 25 combined turnovers, although the Pioneers did share the sugar a bit better, as they had five more assists than the Mustangs. Bugher and Landon Robinson each had a game-high four assists. The Pioneers have now won 16 consecutive SVC contests.
To start the fourth, Westfall stormed out to its first lead of the night with an 8-0 run when Bugher and Clark hit 3’s, before Bugher nailed a fadeaway jumper from the post to force a Zane Trace timeout with 6:12 to play. Each team’s defense tightened, although Clark and Robinson traded 3’s, before Westfall started to nudge their lead to as wide as five with time running down.
With the Pioneers trailing 58-53, Ream came around a screen for a pass, but Cline closed out hard on him, forcing the senior to take a tough, off-balanced 3 … which hit nothing but the bottom of the net. Zane Trace still trailed by two with 1:43 to play, so the Pioneers needed to find a way to get the ball back. That chance came as the Mustangs missed the front end of a bonus with just 20 seconds left.
The Pioneers pushed the pace to try and get a quick bucket, but Ream would be fouled before the shot with 10.7 seconds remaining, setting up Stonerock’s heroics.
With the ball inbounded to Landon Robinson, he passed inside to his brother Nalin, who attempted a reverse layup, but it missed. However, Stonerock pulled down the rebound, gathered his dribble and scored with time running out to force overtime at 58-58.
“Coach said to come off the bench with a good attitude to stay positive and I told everybody to crash the boards,” Stonerock said. “That’s one of the things I wanted to do. I just followed the ball.”
In overtime, neither team was able to score on their opening possession, but Zane Trace took the lead on a 3 from Landon Robinson from the top of the key with 1:15 to play.
Following a miss from deep by the Mustangs, it would be Nalin Robinson who put the game away with a pair of free throws with 23.2 seconds to play, keeping the Pioneers’ hopes for a perfect SVC season alive with four games to play.
“We know were good enough to play with any team, even if we’re down,” Landon Robinson said. “Our hustle and our play will allows us to come back and win these [types of] games, take the lead or take us into overtime.”
Although he was denied the ball for most of the night, Ream still led all scorers with 23 points, doing so efficiently as his shots were limited. The Mustangs were led by Cline with 21 points and seven rebounds, while Bugher and Clark also joined him in double figures. The backcourt scored 54 of Westfall’s 60 points.
“[Ream] is super valuable for us. Whenever he’s getting face-guarded like he was tonight, we try to tell him to step up on the defensive end,” Landon Robinson said. “He had some huge steals and some huge rebounds but I mean, his scoring is amazing. Even with getting face-guarded, he’s putting up 20 points.”
Zane Trace is back in action on Saturday, hosting Piketon, while Westfall attempts to bounce back the same evening with a trip to Paint Valley.
BOX SCORE
Westfall: 9-17-15-17 (2) — 60
Zane Trace: 16-12-19-11 (7) — 65
Westfall scoring: – Casey Cline 21, Blaec Bugher 18, Brody Clark 15, Jerry Layton 4, Seth Gifford 2
Zane Trace scoring: Xzander Ream 23, Landon Robinson 13, Brock Jarrell 11, Kyle Stonerock 8, Nalin Robinson 6, Landen Jarrell 3, Gunner McCullough 1
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