BLACKSVILLE – The Clay-Battelle boys basketball team has held big leads over every team they’ve played on the young season. Twice they sailed on to easy victories, while a trip to arch-nemesis Cameron resulted in the evaporation of a double-digit lead and a painful loss.
So, when the Cee-Bees hosted Mapletown (Pa.) Monday night, and another double digit fourth quarter advantage was cut to a single point, there may have been some dried throats and frayed nerves – but not for senior Kohlton St. Clair, who scored a late steal and lay-in hoop to lead Clay-Battelle to a rugged, hard-fought 72-66 win.
Clay-Battelle (3-1) took advantage of their height and length early, attacking the rim and getting pass deflections galore on their way to an early 7-2 lead, and they would’ve reached a double-figure lead if not for the outside shooting of Braden McIntire, who hit three straight rainbows behind the arc.
Down by eight early in the second quarter, the Maples (2-3) fought back behind the physical play of their front court and their point guard Landon Stevenson. When McIntire drilled his fourth triple with 2:30 left in the half, Mapletown took a surprising 28-26 lead. But CB guard St. Clair answered with two straight bombs to retake the lead, and Clay-Battelle clung to a narrow 36-32 advantage at the break.
It was more of the same in the third, as the Cee-Bees jumped out to another 8-point lead, only to have the Maples grind their way back to within two midway through the quarter. Then Cooper Payton impacted off the bench with a pair of huge threes, followed by St. Clair’s bomb and conventional and-one finish to put CB up 56-42 with a minute left in the quarter.
Yet the Maples – behind the quick, powerful Stevenson, who finished 17-21 from the line on his way to a game-high 32 points – would not go away, as they took advantage of some Clay-Battelle missed lay-ups, poor shot selection, and turnovers to whittle the deficit all the way down to two with a minute left. But St. Clair’s steal and bucket pushed it back to four, then Matthew Gadd’s stick back of a missed foul shot sealed it for the Cee-Bees.
“Stevenson was the most physical guy I think I’ve ever played against,” St. Clair admitted. “But it was huge for us to fight through their late run and take care of things at the end. We made it hard for them to score, and that made the difference.”
Cee-Bees coach Josh Kisner agreed.
“We learned a lot tonight,” he said. “We shared the basketball really well early, and we got the ball into Kohlton and Cooper’s hands when they got hot. We just need to be better at taking care of the ball down the stretch, but it’s good to find a way to win a close one like that.”
St. Clair led the hosts with 28 points on the back of five triples. Top support came from Presto Luzader, who scored 15 points.
In the JV game, Cooper Payton led all scorers with 24 points as the Cee-Bees cruised to a 54-12 victory over the Maples.
Clay-Battelle travels to Lincoln High School for a post-Christmas holiday tournament, then hosts rival Cameron on January 3.
Clay-Battelle 72, Mapletown 66
Mapletown 16 16 15 19 – 66
Clay-Battelle 20 16 20 16 – 72
MAPLETOWN (2-3)
Roger Gradek 2 0-0 4 Landon Stevenson 7 17-21 32 Aj Vanata 1 2-2 5 Braden McIntire6 2-2 20 Cohen Stout 1 3-5 5 Totals 17 24-30 66
CLAY-BATTELLE (3-1)
JC Spears 2 0-0 4 Cooper Payton 2 0-0 6 Kohlton St. Clair 11 1-3 28 Braden Ponceroff 1 0-0 2 Colby Barr 4 0-0 8 Preston Luzader 6 2-3 15 Matthew Gadd 4 0-0 9 Totals 30 3-6 72
Three-pointers – MHS 8 (McIntire 6, Vanata, Stevenson), CB 9 (St. Clair 5, Luzader, Gadd, Payton 2)
BY MARK SCHRAF
