MT to face Rams in McDonald’s final

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The Miami Trace Panthers had a steal and lay-up that just beat the buzzer by senior Cameron Carter to defeat Madison Plains Thursday night, 61-59 in the first round of the McDonald’s Holiday Tournament.

Miami Trace will play in the championship game Saturday night at 8 p.m. against Greeneview as the Rams beat London Thursday, 63-38.

For the Panthers (5-5 overall), senior Cameron Carter led with 21 points. He hit three three-point field goals and led the Panthers in steals with five and assists with four, to go along with six rebounds.

Senior Darby Tyree scored 17 points and led the Panthers with seven rebounds.

Senior Heath Cockerill hit three treys for nine points.

Senior Brett Lewis scored six points and had three assists; junior Austin Brown had four points, six rebounds and led his team with three blocked shots and junior Austin Mathews scored four points and had three rebounds.

Senior Jeffrey Wittman led the Golden Eagles (now 4-3 overall) with 16 points. He also had six rebounds and led his team with four steals.

Sophomore Matt Johnson scored 15 points to go along with four rebounds and junior Spencer Ruzicka had 13 points and led his team with eight rebounds.

Madison Plains took an early 7-3 lead on the Panthers.

The Eagles led by as many as seven points (17-10), but the Panthers responded and held a 21-20 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The first would prove to be the highest-scoring period of the ball game.

A pattern emerged that was followed throughout the remainder of the game.

The Panthers would build a lead of five or seven points, only to see Madison Plains show fortitude and hit a couple of shots and be right back within one possession.

Madison Plains trailed 34-33 with 2:20 to play in the half.

At the intermission, the Panthers were in front, 38-33.

As the game ebbed and flowed, the Panthers went up by as many as eight points in the third quarter (43-35).

The Eagles cut the margin to three points before heading into the final period trailing, 49-42.

In the fourth quarter, the Panthers held a lead of anywhere from three to as many as eight points.

Miami Trace led 57-49 with 5:23 to play in the game.

The Eagles were able to whittle that down to one at 57-56 with just under two minutes remaining.

Johnson hit a very deep three-point shot to give Madison Plains a 59-57 lead with 52 seconds left to be played.

Carter tied the game for Miami Trace with a lay-up with 23 seconds to go.

Following a timeout, the Eagles had the ball out of bounds near half-court.

A defensive trap was applied and Carter got the steal and made the lay-up just before the buzzer sounded, giving Miami Trace the exciting 61-59 victory.

“Their kids did a great job of making some deep three-point shots,” Miami Trace head coach Rob Pittser said. “Then, Cameron made two huge plays. The one at the end to beat the clock was big, obviously, but, really, before that, we were down two and he went to the bucket and got us a hoop to tie it.

“Their triangle and two (defense) disturbed us a little bit,” Pittser said. “That’s the first time we’d seen somebody really try to junk us up on defense like that. Anytime you play a defense that’s a little unstructured like that, things can go a little haywire. We got out of sorts on a few possessions and it kind of helped them hang around the game.

“We were glad that our kids were able to keep the plan going through that and made some shots and got enough points there at the end to come out on top,” Pittser said.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MT 21 17 11 12 — 61

MP 20 13 9 17 — 59

MIAMI TRACE — Cameron Carter 5 (3)-2-21; Darby Tyree 5 (1)-4-17; Heath Cockerill 0 (3)-0-9; Brett Lewis 3-0-6; Austin Brown 0-4-4; Austin Mathews 2-0-4; Adam Ginn 0-0-0; Dakota Bolton 0-0-0. TOTALS — 15 (7)-10-61. Free throw shooting: 10 of 11 for 91 percent. Three-point field goals: Cockerill, 3; Carter, 3; Tyree. Combined field goal shooting: 22 of 55 for 40 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 7 of 25 for 28 percent. Rebounds: 25 (8 offensive). Assists: 10. Steals: 10. Blocks: 4. Turnovers: 8. Personal fouls: 8. Bench points: 8. Second chance points: 6. Points off turnovers: 11.

MADISON PLAINS — Jeffrey Wittman 2 (4)-0-16; Matt Johnson 3 (3)-0-15; Spencer Ruzicka 4 (1)-2-13; Ian Richards 4-0-8; Anthony Holbrook 2-0-4; Jacob Toops 0 (1)-0-3. TOTALS — 15 (9)-2-59. Free throw shooting: 2 of 4 for 50 percent. Three-point field goals: Wittman, 4; Johnson, 3; Ruzicka, Toops. Combined field goal shooting: 24 of 56 for 42 percent. Three-point field shooting: 9 of 20 for 45 percent. Rebounds: 34 (11 offensive). Assists: 13. Steals: 6. Blocks: 1. Turnovers: 15. Personal fouls: 7. Bench points: 4. Second chance points: 8. Points off turnovers: 4.

Greeneview defeats London

In Thursday’s first semifinal of the McDonald’s Holiday Tournament, the Greeneview Rams beat the London Red Raiders, 63-38.

The game’s leading scorer was Greeneview’s Mason Schneider who poured in 22 points.

Gabe Caudill scored 13 for the Rams, Ian Tamplin and Collin Wilson both had eight points, Nick Clevenger scored seven and Jack Nix added five points.

The Rams had four three-point field goals: two from Tamplin and one each from Caudill and Clevenger.

Greeneview went 7 of 8 from the free throw line for 88 percent.

For London, Jake Andrich led with 16 points and Stuart Weyrich scored 11. Both players hit three three-point baskets.

Also for the Red Raiders, Trey Woodyard scored four, Jimmy Dulin hit a trey for three points and Josh Handley and Eli North both chipped in two points.

London was 2 of 3 from the free throw line.

London will play Madison Plains in the consolation game Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. at the Panther Pit.

Miami Trace senior Adam Ginn puts up a shot over Madison Plains senior Jeffrey Wittman during the opening night of the McDonald’s Holiday Tournament, boys varsity edition, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017 at Miami Trace High School.
http://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/12/web1_Adam-Ginn-shot-vs-Madison-Plains-12-28-2017.jpgMiami Trace senior Adam Ginn puts up a shot over Madison Plains senior Jeffrey Wittman during the opening night of the McDonald’s Holiday Tournament, boys varsity edition, Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017 at Miami Trace High School. Chris Hoppes | Record-Herald

London senior Josh Handley (1) puts up an off-balance shot against Greeneview junior Ian Tamplin during an opening round game in the McDonald’s Holiday Tournament Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017 at Miami Trace High School. Also pictured for the Rams is senior Mason Schneider (33).
http://www.recordherald.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2017/12/web1_London-boys-basketball-vs-Greeneview-12-28-2017.jpgLondon senior Josh Handley (1) puts up an off-balance shot against Greeneview junior Ian Tamplin during an opening round game in the McDonald’s Holiday Tournament Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017 at Miami Trace High School. Also pictured for the Rams is senior Mason Schneider (33). Chris Hoppes | Record-Herald

By Chris Hoppes

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