Lovett sends McClain to victory in thriller over Whiteoak

MOWRYSTOWN — Sophomore Hudson Lovett made the drive back home for the McClain Tiger faithful one to remember on Saturday night, as his game-winning jumper with 1.8 seconds left in regulation pushed the Tigers to a 50-48 win over the host Whiteoak Wildcats in a Highland County showdown that won’t been soon forgotten. 

Lovett inbounded the ball on the MHS side of the court and passed to Matthew Cummins, who then handed the ball back to Lovett as he raced to the side of the court, taking an off-balanced shot, putting MHS in front 50-48. After a discussion by the officials following a timeout by WHS, it was determined there were 1.8 seconds left on the clock. 

WHS (1-1) had a very quick chance to make a basket, but time expired, and McClain left the court with the non-conference win. 

McClain (2-1) was led in scoring by Lovett with 17 points, with seven two-point baskets and he was 3-of-3 from the free-throw line. Jordan Bell followed with 12 points, as he made two two-point baskets, two 3-pointers and he went 2-of-2 in his free-throw attempts. 

“That final play was all by my JV coach Mikel Pritchard. He drew up the play. He’s ran it in the past in JV games, and we’ve won games at the end,” MHS head coach Jarrod Haines said. “We wanted to get the ball in our best athlete's hands with Jordan Bell in the corner, and how clutch was Hudson with that shot? 

“I’m proud of my kids. We got up, then got down, then got back up again. We battled. This was one we really needed. We are young, have a lot of youth, and going into league play, we really needed a win like this.”

Haines continued to speak about Lovett and his team.

“Whatever Hudson does, he’s a leader,” Haines said. “Everybody looks at him, and that right there in the basketball season, he’s coming through as a leader and growing up. He’s a hard matchup for anyone, we know that, and to want the ball right there and to make the shot, that’s shown he’s grown up a little bit.

“Jordan is our shooter, struggled at the beginning, but didn’t let it bother him. He also made a huge basket near the end to put us into the position to have a look at the end like we did. Also, the defensive play of Matthew Cummins. After those first threes by Blair, he held him. Again, I’m proud of my kids, and they were super resilient.”

WHS was led in the scoring column by Sawyer Blair and Christopher Wessner with 13 points each. Blair totaled four 3-pointers and was 1-of-2 from the free-throw line. Wessner made three two-point buckets, one 3-pointer and went 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. 

“We got down 10, and in the preseason we would have folded, but I kind of thought we showed a lot of resilience and fought back. We took the lead back and they (MHS) took the lead back and it was a lot of back and forth,” WHS head coach Cory Copas said. “The kids fought hard, and the play at the end … that one play didn’t cost us the game, it was just a bad time. I thought defensively on that last possession we did a good job, but their kid made a shot, that’s basketball. I was proud of the resilience, but not happy with the result.”

At the start of the game, it was WHS leading early with a 6-0 advantage as Blair made consecutive 3-pointers with 7:32 and 6:48 on the clock. A basket by Lovett under the hoop put the Tigers on the board, but the Wildcats had another trey from Blair with 5:28 left in the first for a 9-2 WHS lead. 

Eventually, after the two teams continued to exchange baskets, it was WHS holding on to a four-point lead at the end of the opening quarter for a 14-10 lead. 

McClain outscored WHS 16-9 in the second quarter, taking a halftime lead over Whiteoak at 26-23. 

WHS in the second had five points from Carson Hart (including a 3-pointer), plus two points each scored by Lucas Pollard and Christopher Wessner. McClain’s second quarter had two 3-pointers from Bell, four points scored by Kolton Lamb, and two points each scored by Conner Chandler, Julien Evans and Cummins. 

MHS added 10 points in the third quarter, as Lovett scored six points off three baskets, and two points each were scored by Chandler and Cummins. Whiteoak scored nine points in the third with four points from Wessner, a 3-pointer by Jason Gaskins, and one made free throw each by Blair and Hart. 

Whiteoak in the final frame added 16 points, as Wessner had seven points (including a 3-pointer), plus WHS had six points off three baskets by Brady Brandenburg and a 3-pointer from Blair, his fourth of the game. 

McClain’s fourth frame consisted of five points by Chandler, as one of his baskets was a 3-pointer; Lovett with five points; and four points were scored by Bell. 

The fourth quarter was tied three times.

The Tigers also had the following final scoring totals: Chandler (9), Cummins (4), Lamb (4), Evans (2) and Leland Bond (2). MHS totals as a team were 18 two-point baskets, three 3-pointers, and they went 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. 

Whiteoak also had final scoring totals that included: Brandenburg (10), Hart (6), Gaskins (3) and Pollard (3). Totals for the Wildcats were 10 two-point baskets, seven 3-pointers, and they went 7-of-10 from the free-throw line. 

Next for the Wildcats is a SHAC game on Friday, Dec. 12 against the Peebles Indians at WHS. 

McClain will play next on Friday, Dec. 12 at home against the Chillicothe Cavaliers in FAC play.