Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley in his post game comments said that the Panthers’ game Tuesday, Dec. 19 against Logan Elm was a trap game.

Sometimes in athletics, a team has a game to play before a big game against their biggest rival and that can occassionally cause a team to overlook that night’s opponent while thinking ahead to the big game.

Well, the Panthers avoided any trap against Logan Elm, earning the team’s fifth win in a row, 50-44 over the Braves.

This sets up a clash Saturday night at Miami Trace High School with the Washington Blue Lions.

The Panthers are 4-0 in the Frontier Athletic Conference (5-2 overall), while Washington visits MTHS with a record of 3-0 in the FAC, 5-0 overall after a 49-42 win over the Wilmington Hurricane Tuesday.

“This (was) a trap game for us,” Ackley said. “Jackson (the FAC team Miami Trace hosted Dec. 15 and defeated, 58-45) is a rivalry game. I knew our kids would bring it — the first game at home.

“This (Logan Elm) was the game before Court House,” Ackley said. “This was day three of finals for our kids to end the semester.

“Logan Elm is very hard-nosed, very well-coached,” Ackley said. “(They have) program-oriented kids. They have a kid (junior Nemiah Waugh) who can fill it up and he did tonight (ending as the game’s leading scorer with 25 points).”

Logan Elm led 5-2 and 12-8 in the first quarter, while Miami Trace held a momentary 6-5 lead.

The Braves led the Panthers 12-10 at the end of the first quarter.

The Panthers went back in front of the Braves, 17-16 near the 5:30 mark of the second quarter.

From the point forward, Miami Trace was able to maintain the advantage until the final buzzer.

The Panthers were in front, 22-18 at the halftime break.

Logan Elm drew to within just one point (24-23) with 5:22 to play in the third quarter.

Miami Trace held a 35-28 lead at the end of the third quarter.

With a basket by senior Coleden May to begin the fourth quarter, Miami Trace was in front by nine, 37-28.

The Braves went on a 7-0 run to cut the Panthers’ lead to two, 37-35, with 5:29 to play in the game.

Miami Trace pushed the lead back up to nine on three occasions and finally to as many as 10 points with scant seconds to go.

The Panthers made 9 of 15 free throws in the fourth quarter to secure the 50-44 victory.

Sophomore Adam Guthrie led the Panthers with 18 points. He was 8 of 11 from the foul line.

Guthrie led the Panthers with seven rebounds, including four from the offensive glass. He led the Panthers with four assists and blocked one shot.

Sophomore Grant Guess also attained double figures with 15 points. He had five rebounds and one blocked shot.

May scored six points and grabbed two rebounds.

Seniors Brady Armstrong and Austin Boedeker each scored five points.

Armstrong had four rebounds, two assists and one steal.

Boedeker added two steals to his totals.

Senior Bryson Osborne scored one point. He led the Panthers with four steals and he blocked one shot.

Consistency is a concern for Ackley as the Panthers look ahead to playing the Blue Lions.

“We’ll have three or four real good possessions where we get the look we want, then we’ll have three or four where we’re like, ‘well, that wasn’t a horrible shot, but we could have gotten better.’

“I thought tonight we had a big advantage inside,” Ackley said. “I thought when we went through the inside, we got great looks for everybody. When we took advantage of the mismatches, I thought it made a huge difference.”

Speaking of Guthrie and his team-high four assists, Ackley said, “Adam’s a very willing passer. Our guys love going inside to him. He didn’t have his best game Friday night, but we knew he’d come out tonight with a better mindset and he certainly did. He was huge.

“I thought Grant Guess was great,” Ackley said. “I want to give a lot of credit to our seniors. They didn’t score tonight like they have been, but they still played good floor games. They didn’t let it affect them.”

Waugh made seven two-point baskets, two threes and went 5 of 7 at the line to finish with 25 for Logan Elm.

Senior Brody Sabine connected on two threes and finished with 10 points and senior Carson Summers scored six.

Sophomore Brady Neff hit one three-point basket for Logan Elm.

The Braves (2-3 overall) are at Bloom-Carroll Friday and will host Hilliard Davidson Saturday.

There will be five basketball games at Miami Trace High School with the Washington Blue Lions Saturday, starting with the boys freshman game at 1:30 p.m.

After that, it will be the girls j-v game at 3 p.m., then the boys j-v game at 4:30 p.m., to be followed by the varsity girls game at 6 p.m. and the boys varsity game at 7:30 p.m.

The times listed for each of the games after the freshman game are approximate.

Logan Elm does not have a freshman team.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MT 10 12 13 15 — 50

LE 12 6 10 16 — 44

MIAMI TRACE — Ben Mathews 0-0-0; Trey Robinette 0-0-0; Grant Guess 6-3-15; Coleden May 3-0-6; Brady Armstrong 0-5-5; Skye Salyers 0-0-0; Austin Boedeker 2-1-5; Adam Guthrie 5-8-18; Bryson Osborne 0-1-1. TOTALS — 16-18-50. Free throw shooting: 18 of 28 for 64 percent. Three-point field goals: none. Field goal shooting: 16 of 38 for 42 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 0 of 7. Rebounds: 23 (6 offensive). Turnovers: 8. Assists: 8. Steals: 8. Blocked shots: 3. Fouls: 18.

LOGAN ELM — Camden Redd 0-0-0; Kyle Rine 0-0-0; Tyler Speas 0-0-0; Brady Neff 0 (1)-0-3; Carson Summers 3-0-6; Brody Sabine 1 (2)-2-10; Alden Williams 0-0-0; Nemiah Waugh 7 (2)-5-25; keegan Diehl 0-0-0. TOTALS — 11 (5)-7-44. Free throw shooting: 7 of 9 for 78 percent. Three-point field goals: Sabine, 2; Waugh, 2; Neff. Field goal shooting: 16 of 36 for 44 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 5 of 14 for 36 percent. Turnovers: 18. Offensive rebounds: 3.

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Miami Trace j-v team beats Braves, raises record to 7-0

In the evening’s junior-varsity game, Miami Trace remained unbeaten, posting a 33-26 win over Logan Elm.

Cade Whitaker led Miami Trace with 10 points. He made one three-point field goal.

Julian Baker scored nine and Conner Napier scored six.

Luke Armstrong and Dane Wilt each hit one three-point field goal and Mason Buchhammer and Bryson Yeoman both scored one point.

Kelton Bennington was the game’s leading scorer for Logan Elm with 12 points. He made four three-point shots.

Lucas Bialy made one three and finished with five points; Zane Seimer, Jude Palmer, Grant Cline and Owen Groff each scored two points for the Braves and Owen Russell scored one.