In front of an extremely large crowd, the Washington Blue Lions hosted the Miami Trace Panthers Saturday evening.
Miami Trace won the game, 50-43.
The difference was mainly at the free throw line, as Miami Trace made 15 of 20 free throws to 7 of 11 for the Blue Lions.
Miami Trace senior Darby Tyree was the game’s leading scorer with 20 points.
He had five rebounds, four assists and blocked two shots.
Senior Cameron Carter scored 13 points and led the game with five steals.
Junior Austin Brown scored eight points and was the game’s leading rebounder with seven.
Senior Heath Cockerill scored five points and had three steals, junior Austin Mathews had three points and senior Matt Fender scored one point.
A pair of juniors led the Blue Lions in scoring.
Evan Upthegrove and Blaise Tayese both scored 11 points for Washington.
Sophomore Miguel O’Flaherty had 10 points, junior Dillon Steward scored eight points and sophomore Eli Lynch hit one three-point field goal.
Sophomore Trevor Rarick led the Blue Lions with five rebounds.
Miami Trace jumped out to a 14-3 lead over Washington.
The Panthers led the Blue Lions 16-6 at the end of the first quarter.
The Blue Lions fought back to pull to within three points (17-14) with four minutes to play in the first half.
A 9-2 run gave the Panthers a 26-16 halftime lead.
The lowest-scoring frame was the third, as Washington scored nine points to eight for the Panthers.
Miami Trace twice led by as many as 12 points before a three-point basket from Steward cut the margin to nine at 34-25.
The lead that the Panthers established in the first quarter stood them in good stead in the fourth quarter.
The Blue Lions pulled to within two points (38-36) after a steal and basket and free throw after the foul by Steward.
Brown had a key stick-back bucket with 2:30 remaining for the Panthers.
The Panthers bumped their lead back to eight points after a pair of free throws by Tyree and two from the line by Carter.
O’Flaherty scored the final basket of the game to set the score at 50-43.
“Coaches always love it when (their team) scores well early,” Miami Trace head coach Rob Pittser said. “We played about a three or four minute stretch there in the first half of some pretty poor basketball. The reason for that was (Washington) was playing pretty well.
“They climbed back into it,” Pittser said. “We told our kids before the game that Washington was going to play their best game of the year tonight. We had to expect that. It was a good high school game. Both teams played hard. It’s a good rivalry. We’re fortunate to get out of here with the win.
“This place is full,” Pittser said. “It doesn’t matter whether both teams are having unbelievable seasons, or both teams feel like they missed a game or two here and there, or didn’t quite get out of the season what they wanted.
“The community loves this game,” Pittser said. “It’s neat for the kids. For all of the people who have played in this, they’ll tell you, it’s just different from the other games. It’s neat that the girls get to play last with the kind of seasons they’re having.”
“We’ve struggled to score the ball all year,” Washington head coach Shannon Bartruff said. “We didn’t do a very good job of flashing to the ball and squaring up and making plays.
“Normally, when teams run half-court traps at you, you can see the guy coming,” Bartruff said. “Our guards are a little banged up, but, that wasn’t the difference in the game. They just made more plays in crucial situations.
“When you don’t make shots, it doesn’t matter how hard you guard,” Bartruff said. “Their two best players, Darby and Cam, were on the bench in the third quarter and we didn’t make a run at them. We had our most turnovers in that quarter.
“Our young guys just have to continue to be aggressive and get better,” Bartruff said. “A lot of that comes with confidence from game situations and from your skill. I felt like we fought and we had opportunities. Again, we just didn’t make enough plays down the stretch.”
The Panthers are now 10-10 overall, 7-3 in the FAC.
Miami Trace is at Vinton County Tuesday with the j-v game at 5:30 p.m.
The Blue Lions are 3-14 overall, 1-8 in the FAC. Washington plays at Hillsboro Monday night and will host Unioto Tuesday with the j-v game starting at 5:30 p.m.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 16 10 8 16 — 50
W 6 10 9 18 — 43
MIAMI TRACE — Darby Tyree 3 (2)-8-20; Cameron Carter 2 (1)-6-13; Austin Brown 4-0-8; Heath Cockerill 1 (1)-0-5; Austin Mathews 0 (1)-0-3; Matt Fender 0-1-1; Brett Lewis 0-0-0; Dakota Bolton 0-0-0. TOTALS — 10 (5)-15-50. Free throw shooting: 15 of 20 for 75 percent. Three-point field goals: Tyree, 2; Carter, Cockerill, Mathews. Combined field goal shooting: 15 of 37 for 40 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 10 for 50 percent. Rebounds: 20 (4 offensive). Assists: 12. Steals: 10. Blocks: 5. Turnovers: 9. Personal fouls: 10. Bench points: 4. Second chance points: 2. Points off turnovers: 8.
WASHINGTON — Evan Upthegrove 1 (2)-3-11; Blaise Tayese 4-3-11; Miguel O’Flaherty 5-0-10; Dillon Steward 2 (1)-1-8; Eli Lynch 0 (1)-0-3; Trevor Rarick 0-0-0; Garitt Leisure 0-0-0; Ross Matthews Jr. 0-0-0. TOTALS — 12 (4)-7-43. Free throw shooting: 7 of 11 for 63 percent. Three-point field goals: Upthegrove, 2; Steward, Lynch. Combined field goal shooting: 16 of 40 for 40 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 4 of 17 for 23 percent. Rebounds: 21 (3 offensive). Assists: 6. Steals: 5. Blocks: 1. Turnovers: 12. Bench points: 3. Second chance: 5. Points off turnovers: 4.
Panthers win j-v boys game over Blue Lions
In the j-v boys game Saturday, Miami Trace beat Washington, 58-25.
Kyler Conn was the game’s leading scorer for Miami Trace with 18 points.
Trevor Barker scored 14, Cody Brightman had nine points and Wyatt Cory scored six.
Colin Farrens scored four points, Jake Atwood had three points and Javon Robinette and Dylan Bernard both scored two points.
Drew Moats led the Blue Lions with eight points. Brice Cartwright scored six points, Mitchell Lotz scored four points, Hayden Burke scored three and Hugh Silberman and Gabe Arazo both added two points.
