The Miami Trace Panthers varsity basketball team was looking for its first win of the season when the Washington Blue Lions visited Miami Trace High School Saturday, Dec. 18.
Miami Trace began the game with a 6-0 start and went on to win, 55-49.
Miami Trace had two starters return to the lineup in junior Andrew Guthrie and senior Hayden Hunter, while Washington was missing two starters, sophomore John Wall and junior Tanner Lemaster.
Washington senior Reico Colter was the game’s leading scorer with 31 points.
Guthrie responded with 27 points for the Panthers.
Sophomore Bryson Osborne scored nine for the Panthers, including one three-point field goal.
Sophomore Garrett Guess scored seven points (with one three), sophomore Austin Boedeker scored six points and sophomore Eli Fliehman scored four. Junior Bryson Sheets scored two points.
For the Blue Lions, sophomore Isaiah Haithcock scored seven points, senior Rishaun Burns and juniors Brayden May and Raleigh Haithcock each scored three points. Haithcock had one three-point field goal.
Junior Troy Thompson scored two points for Washington.
Miami Trace led 11-9 at the end of the first quarter.
The game was tied, 11-11 and 18-18 in the second quarter. At the halftime break, Miami Trace held a 22-18 lead.
With a three from Guthrie and another from Guess, the Panthers went up, 28-20.
After a bucket by Fliehman gave the Panthers a nine-point lead, Colter hit a three and Isaiah Haithcock scored to cut the margin to four.
Sheets scored the final basket of the third quarter, giving the Panthers a 41-33 lead.
The Panthers increased their lead to a game-high 12 points early in the fourth quarter.
The Blue Lions responded and with 4:37 remaining, the margin of difference was once again four.
Colter had a steal and took it in for a lay-up to make it 47-45 Panthers, with 4:19 to play in the game.
An old-fashioned three-point play from Guthrie was followed by a basket by the Blue Lions’ Thompson.
The Panthers missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Guthrie got the offensive rebound, scored and was fouled, making another three-point play to set the score at 53-47 with 1:21 remaining.
Guthrie made two more free throws and Colter made one to put the score at 55-49.
After the Panthers missed two free throws, the Blue Lions missed two final shot attempts, leaving the score as it was, 55-49.
“I cannot give our kids enough credit for their fight,” Miami Trace head coach Ben Ackley said. “They just stayed with it tonight. They were resilient.
“Court House made their runs,” Ackley said. “Reico was incredible. They’ve got nice players and athletes all the way around. I know they were down one of the top players in the league (Tanner Lemaster) and John Wall, who is one of the top guards in the league.
“We were 0-7 coming in,” Ackley said. “We basically led from the tip tonight. I couldn’t be more proud of our kids.”
“Obviously, if (Andrew Guthrie) is in the game, he’s the focal point,” Washington head coach Shannon Bartruff said. “I thought Rishaun battled. He’s probably giving up about a foot.
“We did a decent job of boxing out, I felt like,” Bartruff said. “But when (Miami Trace) got rebounds, they were huge. They were right there when we cut it to one possession or two possessions.
“It’s kind of like the Chillicothe game,” Bartruff said. “I can’t fault our effort. We just didn’t make enough plays when we needed to make plays. It just seemed like when we got really close, we would miss a shot or they would get an offensive rebound.”
In other FAC games Saturday, McClain defeated Hillsboro, 49-41 and Chillicothe beat Jackson, 56-52.
After Saturday’s games, which ended the first round of conference play, McClain was in first place in the FAC with a record of 4-1.
Chillicothe and Hillsboro were tied for second place at 3-2; Jackson was fourth at 2-2, followed by Washington at 1-3 and Miami Trace at 1-4.
The Panthers (1-7 overall) will host Zane Trace Tuesday. Zane Trace does not have a boys freshman team, so the j-v has been set for 6 p.m. with varsity to follow.
The Blue Lions (3-3 overall) will take part in the Circleville tournament Dec. 28 and 29.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MT 11 17 19 14 — 55
W 9 9 15 16 — 49
MIAMI TRACE — Hayden Hunter 0-0-0; Eli Fliehman 2-0-4; Braeden Morris 0-0-0; Garrett Guess 1 (1)-2-7; Bryson Osborne 3 (1)-0-9; Austin Boedeker 3-0-6; Bryson Sheets 1-0-2; Andrew Guthrie 9 (1)-6-27. TOTALS — 19 (3)-8-55. Free throw shooting: 8 of 15 for 53 percent. Three-point field goals: Guess, Osborne, Guthrie. Field goal shooting: 22 of 49 for 45 percent. Turnovers: 13.
WASHINGTON — Reico Colter 11 (1)-6-31; Brayden May 1-1-3; Raleigh Haithcock 0 (1)-0-3; Troy Thompson 1-0-2; Micah Brown 0-0-0; Coleden May 0-0-0; Isaiah Haithcock 3-1-7; Rishaun Burns 1-1-3. TOTALS — 17 (2)-9-49. Free throw shooting: 9 of 13 for 69 percent. Three-point field goals: Colter, R. Haithcock. Field goal shooting: 19 of 48 for 40 percent. Turnovers: 7.
Blue Lions win j-v boys game vs Panthers
In Saturday’s junior-varsity boys game, Washington defeated the Panthers, 38-33.
Coleden May and Nydrell Wright led the Blue Lions in scoring, each with nine points.
Brennan Lovely scored seven for Washington, followed by Will Miller with five points and Gabe Wightman and Jacob Lindsey each scored four points.
Brady Armstrong was the game’s leading scorer for Miami Trace with 14 points, including one three-point field goal.
Ben Mathews hit one three for the Panthers and scored a total of six points. Trey Robinette scored five points with one three-point basket.
Zach Warnock and Shay Salyers each contributed four points.
Miami Trace led 10-3 at the end of the first quarter and 12-9 at the half.
Washington pulled into the lead in the third quarter with 12 points to four for the Panthers. The Blue Lions were in front, 21-16 going into the fourth quarter.
Both teams scored 17 points in the fourth quarter for the 38-33 final.
Blue Lions win freshman game over Panthers
Washington jumped out to a big lead and went on to win the freshman game with Miami Trace, 52-26.
Nydrell Wright was the game’s leading scorer for Washington with 18 points.
Jacob Lindsey scored 16 for the Blue Lions and Gage Merritt scored 11.
Will Miller scored four and Logan Clevenger scored three points.
For Miami Trace, Trey Robinette led with eight points.
Christian Heath and Gaige Stuckey each scored six points. Stuckey hit two three-point field goals.
Ian Mavis scored four points and Skye Salyers had two points for the Panthers.
