BLACKSVILLE — After falling behind by eight points after one quarter, the Clay-Battelle boys’ basketball battled to make it close with visiting Lewis County but scored just 13 points in the second half in a 52-35 loss Monday night.
The Cee-Bees (5-5), ranked eighth in this week’s AP poll for Class A, erased a 19-11 deficit to just one by halftime, allowing the Minutemen (8-4) to score just four points in the second quarter.
C-B head coach Josh Kisner changed his team defense from a 1-3-1 initially, to a man-to-man matchup that allowed the Cee-Bees to use their size advantage.
“Getting down big the way we did and fighting back to one point at halftime was good,” Kisner said. “We even took the lead at one point. We did well rebounding defensively in the second half but we left some shooters open and they got open in the paint.”
The Minutemen made four of their six threes in the first quarter, with three coming from guard Manny Robinson, who finished with 12 points on the night. Meanwhile, forwards Ben Putnam and Paxton Kelley were working well together inside, combing for 34 of their teams 52 points on 16 made field goals.
“Those two guys were the ones we knew we needed to stop,” Kisner said after the game. “Watching the warm up I also thought number one (Robinson) could shoot the ball and he got hot early and got us out of the initial game plan we had.”
Out of the halftime break to start the third quarter, the Cee-Bees offense struggled. Multiple turnovers allowed LCHS to score layups on the break and frustrate the C-B guards.
The Minutemen turned that momentum into an 18-4 run in the third quarter to swell the lead to 14 at 41-27.
The Cee-Bees shot just 3 for 14 from three point range and made just nine total shots on the night as well. Poor shooting has become a theme in C-B losses, but it isn’t because the ability isn’t there. Multiple players have shown the shooting touch but haven’t done it consistently.
“Second half we had no energy, we turned the ball over the first six possessions or so,” Kisner said. “They capitalized on it and took a 12 point lead and never looked back. We didn’t get some of the shots selection we wanted tonight and that’s something we need to fix. The offense needs to flow better if we want to be successful.”
Kholton St. Clair led the Cee-Bees with 10 points, Preston Luzader supported with nine and Colby Barr finished with eight.
The Cee-Bees schedule won’t get much easier as they will hit the road for an in-section matchup against Doddridge County on Thursday night.
Lewis County 52, Clay-Battelle 35
LCHS – 19 4 18 11 – 52
C-B 11 11 5 8 – 35
Lewis County – Robinson 7 0-0 12; Boyce 4 1-2 3; Putnam 13 0-0 15; Kelley 16 0-0 19; Zielinski 1 1-5 3
C-B – Shriver 5 1-2 3; St. Clair 12 2-4 10; Barr 7 2-2 8; Luzader 7 3-4 9; Spears 1 0-0 2; Ponceroff 1 0-0 3
3pt. goals – C-B 3 (St Clair 2, Ponceroff 1); LCHS 6 (Robinson 4, Putnam 1, Kelley 1).
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