Coming into Tuesday night’s game at Columbia, the Lawrence County Boys Basketball team had a good game plan. They executed it well, except for the shooting part. That proved to be their ultimate downfall as they dropped the road contest to the Lions 39-37.
“Our goal was to make it a halfcourt game,” head coach Bryce Clifft said. “What stinks is they fed into our hand. We did what we wanted to do, couldn’t finish possessions. We would guard how we wanted to then give up an offensive rebound for a bucket and that would kill us.”
The Wildcats (3-2) led the Lions (1-4) after the first and third quarters. However, Columbia led after the second quarter, and the end of the game — the most important time.
Lawrence County forced 18 Lion turnovers and converted those into 14 points. However, they were outrebounded 40 to 33, including 11 to 8 on the offensive glass as Columbia got seven key second chance points.
“We knew they were way more athletic than us,” Clifft said. We wanted to slow them down and make it a halfcourt game. We did what we wanted to do, just could’ve executed a little more and it could’ve been a different game.”
The offensive game was the Achilles heel for the Wildcats. They shot just 13-of-48 from the field including just 4-of-24 from three and 7-of-12 from the free throw line with several key misses that could’ve been the difference long term.
“What’s bad is that we shot so poorly and still had a chance to win,” Clifft said. “We’ve got to shoot the ball better and that will come with time. I feel like we’re taking good shots. That’s the bad part, we’re just not hitting good shots. That will come. Shooting that poorly and having a chance to win stings.”
Senior Alex Bedford led the way with 20 points and eight rebounds. Wes Brewer had six points and six rebounds. Braden Fields led on the boards with seven. Blake Taylor paced the team with three steals.
For the Lions, KI Hunt led the way with 14 points and nine rebounds. Isaiah Humes contributed with five points, eight rebounds, and three assists. Columbia did not have a great shooting night either going 12-of-44 from the field including a 3-of-13 mark from three-point range.
Up next for the Wildcats will be a visit from Battle Creek Thursday. That will be followed by another road trip to Richland on Saturday. Both games will be streamed on the X Sports Network via Facebook and Youtube.
