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Air Thunderbird edges Clay City 55-52
LITTLE CINCINNATI -- Eastern unleashed a tornado of three-pointers against visiting Clay City Tuesday night and came away with a 55-52 win.
Sam Rees and Brayden Myers both hit five treys to spur Eastern to the victory, combining for 10-15 (66.7 percent) shooting from long range. The triumph boosted the Thunderbirds’ record to 11-10, 5-1 in Southwestern Indiana Athletic Conference play, while Clay City fell to 6-13, 3-4.
“I never knew Rees and Brandon Myers were 10-15,” said Eastern coach Jon Neill. “When you shoot 67 percent with those two kids, that’s really good. I can’t say enough about those two kids.”
The number of turnovers proved to be a downer for Eastern. The Thunderbirds committed 14 turnovers while Clay City threw the ball away only six times. The Eels unleashed a relentless press in the second half to force many Eastern turnovers and fuel a comeback from an eight-point halftime deficit.
“We knew they would, especially in the second half,” Neill said. “They would try to speed us up. They were times we struggled and times we did very well.”
Myers led all scorers with 22 for Eastern, Rees tallied 15, and Layton Anderson scored 13.
Jacob LaFary led the Eels with 18 and Corbin Crosby added 15.
The aerial war began early as Myers and Rees both sank treys in the first quarter to offset Crosby’s two triples, and Eastern led 8-6. Rees and Myers’ talons grew hotter in the second quarter and each drilled two triples to give the T-Birds a 24-16 halftime lead.
Eastern still led by eight, 29-21, when Myers nailed another three-pointer, but the Eels closed the quarter with a 10-4 run to cut the deficit to two, 33-31. Nathan Owens sank a, what else?, three-pointer and LaFary converted a fossil three-point play to ignite the run.
Gianni Pipes tied the score early in the fourth on a putback, but bombs away! Myers struck twice from the right corner and Rees hit one from the right wing to give Eastern a 42-33 lead. Clay City whittled away at the lead thanks to some free throws, layups by Owens and Bryce Patterson and a deuce and a trey by LaFary, and trailed 50-48 with 1:20 on the clock.
The Thunderbirds worked the clock, though, and made enough free throws to pull out the win.
“We had a bunch of kids step up and do extremely well,” Neill said. “They deserve praise for that.”
Clay City jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the first quarter en route to a 50-33 victory in the JV game. Eastern battled the visitors evenly in the second quarter, but Clay City led 21-10 at the break. The Eels slowly pulled away in the second half.
Eastern scorers were: Creager, 12; Same Rees and Luke Birch, five each; Benefiel, four; Grubbs, three; and Cory Cramer and Caleb Lindsey, two apiece.
Gabe Donnar and Bryce Patterson both scored 13 to lead the Eels, followed by Zeke Newton and Carter Dickson, nine each; and Nolan Harris, Jace Jackson, and Wesley Langley, two apiece.
The Thunderbirds will travel to Shakamak at 6:00 p.m. Friday.
Clay City 6 10 15 21 -- 52
Eastern 8 16 9 22 -- 55
CLAY CITY (52)
Pipes 2 0-0 4, Rogers 0 0-0 0, Patterson 2 0-0 4, Crosby 5 2-2 15, Newton 0 0-0 0, LaFary 6 5-6 18, Yocum 1 0-1 2, Owens 4 0-0 9, TEAM 20 7-9 52.
EASTERN (55)
Tyler Richardson 0 1-2 1, Same Rees 5 0-0 15, Myers 6 5-7 22, Luke Birch 2 0-2 4, Anderson 5 3-4 13, Cramer 0 0-2 0, TEAM 18 9-17 55.
Three-Point Shooting: Clay City 5 (Crosby 3, LaFary 1, Owens 1), Eastern 10 (Rees 5, Myers 5). Fouls: Clay City 15, Eastern 7. Turnovers: Clay City 6, Eastern 14.