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Mustangs top Wildcats to win Wilkin Memorial Scholarship Tournament

Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
DODSONVILLE — This year, the Wilkin Memorial Scholarship Tournament belongs to the Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs.

The Mustangs, after a slow first half, controlled the final two quarters for a 48-35 non-league victory over the Whiteoak Wildcats for the regular-season sweep against WHS. In their first meeting on Dec. 16 at WHS, the Mustangs topped the Wildcats 60-53.

For the two-day tournament, Lynchburg-Clay's Gage Waits was named the Most Valuable Player as he scored a total of 33 points against Paint Valley (Thursday) and WHS (Friday). In the championship game against WHS, he totaled 13 points (including three 3-pointers), and against PV, he finished with a game-high 20 points.

The All-Tournament team consisted of: Eli Barker (PV), Alex Gilkerson (CNE), Alec Smith (LC), Gage Carraher (WHS) and Waits (LC). In the third-place game, CNE defeated PV 55-52.

LC improves to 5-3 overall on the season, and the loss drops WHS to 3-5 overall.

"Having five wins this early in the season … I didn't expect it since we have players who entered the season with inexperience at the varsity level," LC head coach Jason McLaughlin said. "This is a very nice start for us, and we'll use these last two days as momentum headed into this coming week."

The quarter that turned the game, allowing LC to take complete control, was the third quarter, in a similar fashion as they did on Thursday when the third quarter allowed them to run away with a win.

Friday's third frame was part defense, part offense for LC as they outscored the Wildcats 16-4 in the eight-minute span.

"They played us tight, and we couldn't spread out the ball," WHS head coach Tom Wessner said. "We just couldn't get started … we never got that spark.

"We never pushed it to the next level."

Ryan Inman, who led all scorers with a game-high 15 points, began the third with a basket, increasing the Mustangs' lead to nine points at 24-15.

"Ryan played very well," McLaughlin said. "What I like about his play was he created mismatches."

WHS answered with a layup 20 seconds later by Doc Seip (who led WHS with 12 points), but then it was all Waits for the next three minutes. Waits, who sat a majority of the first half due to gaining two fouls in the opening frame, let loose on the Wildcats as he knocked down consecutive 3-pointers within a minute of each other, followed by two free-throws and a layup. Waits's 10-point outburst put the Mustangs up 34-17 with 3:54 in the third.

"Gage (Waits) really made up for missing a lot of the first half in the third quarter," McLaughlin said. "He gave us that spark we were looking for. Gage also played great defensively in the third."
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Whiteoak's Luke Taggert stopped the scoring by Waits and the Mustangs with a put-back basket, but the Mustangs weren't finished in the third with Smith and Inman scoring baskets in the final 1:19 to put LC ahead 19 points after three quarters.

Smith finished with 14 points for the Mustangs.

"Alec had a good game with eight rebounds as well," McLaughlin said. "He's doing what he's supposed to be doing and did a nice job on defense, with a couple good offensive moves too."

The Wildcats tried to rally in the final quarter with a 16-point effort, but LC kept a comfortable advantage with 10 points in the fourth.

For WHS in the fourth, Steven Meyers added six points, and Gage Carraher scored four of his nine total points in the final frame. Carraher finished the game a perfect 5-of-5 from the free-throw line.

"We need to play with a little more intensity as the season continues," Wessner said. "We need our bench to step up and give us a spark like they did in the last game.

"We need the consistency and be in mid-season form as we are about to play some league games. We need to see the intensity."

The Mustangs' fourth was highlighted with a 3-pointer by Waits to began the eight-minute frame. The basket gave LC a 41-19 lead with 7:33 left in the game. Also adding points for LC in the fourth were Inman and Smith.

Though LC led at the half, the first two quarters weren't too bright for either squad as LC, who never trailed in the entire 32 minutes of play, led 9-8 after the first quarter and 22-15 at halftime.

LC opened the game with six straight points from Tyler Davidson and Smith as Davidson made it a 6-0 lead on a fast-break layup off a steal with 4:58 left in the first.

Seip answered with back-to-back shots, and he eventually tied the game at 8-8 with 1:16 left in the quarter on a jumper. Inman broke the tied score with a free-throw conversion at the 1:02 mark of the quarter.

LC outscored their Highland County and Southern Hills League rival 13-7 in the second with points from Davidson, Inman and Smith. WHS had three players score for them in the second frame in Seip, Taggert and Carraher.

For the game, WHS shot 90 percent from the free-throw line at 9-of-10, and LC was 9-of-12 for 75 percent.

LC will play again on Friday, Jan. 6 when they travel to Fayetteville. WHS is scheduled to host Manchester on Tuesday, Jan. 3 in their next game.

The Greg Wilkin Memorial Scholarship was established in Dec. 1983 by Mr. Robert Hottle in honor of Wilkin, who was killed in a farming accident on Nov. 8, 1982.

In '10, Paint Valley won the inaugural four-team tournament at LC, which included LC, WHS and New Boston.




BOX SCORE
WHS
    08 07 04 16 — 35
LC        09 13 16 10 — 48

INDIVIDUAL STATS 
LC (48)

G.Waits 1 (3) 2-2 13
T.Davidson 3 (0) 0-0 6
R.Inman 5 (0) 5-7 15
A.Smith 6 (0) 2-3 14
TOTALS: 15 (3) 9-12 48

WHS (35)
Z.Docter 2 (0) 0-0 2
S.Meyers 2 (0) 2-3 6
D.Seip 5 (0) 2-2 12
L.Taggert 3 (0) 0-0 6
G.Carraher 2 (0) 5-5 9
TOTALS: 14 (0) 9-10 35

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