GREENFIELD — A packed house inside of McClain High School’s gymnasium on Friday was treated to a superb third quarter of basketball by the home-standing Tigers as they outscored the visiting Miami Trace Panthers 30-3 in the period en route to a 67-34 Frontier Athletic Conference win.
“We felt like we played hard in the first half but, we didn’t feel like we executed well,” said McClain head coach Joe B. Stewart. “We wanted to make their guards work and we wanted to make their trips long. We pressed a little bit…it really picked up the tempo for us and our guys made real good decisions. It’s something we have worked on but have not used in a game situation and it really got things going our way.”
The Tigers combined to score 28 points over the first two quarters of play and Kobe Penwell led the charge with three triples including two in the first quarter as he totaled 13 points in the first half.
Miami Trace started the game hot from the three-point line as Trevor Barker and Kyler Conn each hit two three pointers and Conn totaled eight points in the period as Miami Trace trailed 17-16 after one quarter of play.
The Panthers took a brief lead early in the second quarter when Cameron Moore and Ethan Steele scored seven points for Miami Trace as they took a 23-20 lead.
However, from there the Tigers outscored the Panthers eight points to one and took a 28-24 halftime lead.
Penwell continued to light up the scoreboard in the third quarter as he hit three more triples in the frame to reach his game high total of 22 points. Bryson Badgley added a three of his own and a layup a short time later for five points in the quarter, and Dalton Mischal had eight points to help the tigers put the game away early.
Logan Rodgers had the lone field goal for the Panthers in the third as he hit a layup following a Miami Trace timeout with just over five minutes to play in the third.
The Panthers were unable to find the bottom of the net again until Austin Matthews hit one of two at the charity stripe with 1:59 to play in the period to account for Miami Trace’s three points in the third.
The fourth quarter was a formality with McClain leading the Panthers 58-27 but McClain’s Ethan Cockerill took the opportunity in the opening minutes of the quarter to score two buckets and push the McClain lead to 62-27 before he was subbed out of the game.
Miami Trace is scheduled to take the floor again on Friday, January 25 when they travel to Hillsboro to take on the Indians in an FAC match-up.
Their game at home against Lynchburg-Clay, scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed.
McClain is scheduled to travel to Dayton-Caroll on Tuesday to compete with Patriots in a non-conference match-up.
Miami Trace is now 1-14 overall, 0-7 in the FAC.
The Tigers are now 4-3 in the Frontier Athletic Conference.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 16 8 3 7 — 34
Mc 17 11 30 9 — 67
MIAMI TRACE — Trevor Barker 0 (3)-0-9; Kyler Conn 0 (2)-2-8; Ethan Steele 1 (1)-0-5; Logan Rodgers 2-0-4; Cody Brightman 0 (1)-0-3; Cameron Moore 1-0-2; Austin Mathews 0-1-1; Braden Osborne 0-1-1; Austin Brown 0-1-1; Dylan Bernard 0-0-0. TOTALS — 4 (7)-5-34. Free throw shooting: 5 of 15 for 33 percent. Three-point field goals: Barker, 3; Conn, 2; Steele, Brightman. Field goal shooting: 11 of 33 for 33 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 7 of 11 for 63 percent. Rebounds: 20 (3 offensive). Assists: 7. Steals: 8. Blocks: 3. Turnovers: 27. Personal fouls: 16. Bench points: 17. Second chance points: 2. Points off turnovers: 12.
McCLAIN — Kobe Penwell 1 (6)-2-22; Dalton Mischal 7-2-16; Devin Carter 4-0-8; Bryson Badgley 2 (1)-0-7; Garrison Banks 2 (1)-0-7; Ethan Cockerill 2-2-6; Dakota Pollock 0-1-1; Trevor Tite 0-0-0; Zane Mustard 0-0-0; Theo Dehecq 0-0-0; Trevor Newkirk 0-0-0; Reece Schluep 0-0-0. TOTALS — 18 (8)-8-67. Free throw shooting: 7 of 11 for 63 percent. Three-point field goals: Penwell, 6; Badgley, Banks. Field goal shooting: 26 of 53 for 49 percent. Three-point field goal shooting: 8 of 17 for 47 percent. Rebounds: 29 (7 offensive). Assists: 9. Steals: 13. Blocks: 0. Turnovers: 16. Personal fouls: 18. Bench points: 8. Second chance points: 6. Points off turnovers: 22.
