Jackson goes for 26 pts, 10 rebs and 7 assists in Win
Saturday, Feb. 12
Tigers cap off regular season with win
McClain's Jackson scores 26, hits 1,000th career point in second quarter
By Kevin Riege SCOLsports.com
GREENFIELD- Not many teams have the kind of weekend that the McClain Tigers have enjoyed.
Fresh off of defeating county rival Hillsboro on Friday night to cement a perfect 10-0 record in the South Central Ohio League and the Gold Basketball award, the Tigers said goodbye to three seniors with a 69-46 win over visiting Eastern Brown in McClain's final home game of the season.
As if that weren't enough, McClain super sophomore Dante' Jackson drained a three-point goal in the second quarter for his 1,000th career point. Jackson finished with another double-double with 26 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
Saturday night also represented the last home game for three McClain senior basketball players. Matt Binegar, Skyler Gill and Joel Anderson were honored before the game for their contributions to the program.
The two teams came into the contest on opposite trajectories. While McClain (18-2 overall, 10-0 SCOL) clinched the SCOL title Friday night with a win over its biggest rival, the Warriors were denied a chance to tie for the Southern Hills League crown Friday. Eastern (15-5, 10-3 SHL) lost to SHL champ North Adams 82-69 on Friday.
"What a special evening," McClain head coach Rick VanMatre said. "To beat an Eastern Brown team that's won 15 games is special. Coming off a tough, emotional win last night at Hillsboro last night, we were worried about fatigue. It hit us a little in the second half, but we played through it.
"It was a great night for our seniors, Matt Binegar, Joel Anderson and Skyler Gill," VanMatre said. "All three started and all three played well. It's good to send those guys off with a win in this type of atmosphere."
McClain jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the tip-off and never trailed. Jackson, who came into the game needing 17 points to reach the 1,000 plateau, fired up the home crowd with a breakaway dunk after getting a steal at midcourt, putting the Tigers up 13-4. Jackson added two free throws to give McClain a 15-4 lead after one quarter.
Jackson converted a three-point play with a foul shot to begin McClain's second quarter, and Gill stroke a three-pointer for a 21-6 Tiger lead. Eastern guard Brett Beucler moved the Warriors to within 10 with a three-pointer and a pair of free throws. Beucler finished with 21 for Eastern.
"(Beucler) is a great player with a tremendous, quick release," VanMatre said. "I told the guys that they would be surprised at how quickly he can get a shot off. We were in space a couple times in the first half and he hit a couple threes and it shocked us a little bit. We were trying to play man-to-man when he was in our area, but we did a better job on him the second half."
Jackson responded with a three-point goal with 2:18 left. After Beucler sank another two free throws, Jackson came back up the floor and nailed a three-pointer from the wing to give him an even 1,000 points for his career, with 1:47 left in the half. McClain supporters waved placards that read "Dante' 1,000 points" as the game was temporarily stopped so Jackson could be presented with a plaque honoring his achievement.
"To have a sophomore already have 1,000 points is a very special thing," VanMatre said. "He also had another double-double. He just has a great impact on the game."
With the game back on, Michael Howard sank two free throws for McClain, and Eastern's Kevin Hoover hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, making it a 33-23 halftime score in favor of the Tigers.
Corey Rose started McClain's third quarter off with four points, sandwiched around another Jackson breakaway dunk off a steal. Jackson scored on a putback off a rebound and floated in a touch shot for a 43-30 McClain lead. Beucler hit another trey at the end of the third, and the Tigers led 43-33 going into the fourth.
Jerrod Ralph entered the game on fire for McClain in the fourth quarter, hitting three trifectas in the first two minutes for the Tigers. Howard followed that up with a trey that gave McClain a 55-36 advantage. McClain's first four trips down the floor in the fourth quarter resulted in three-pointers.
"Jerrod came in and hit some key three-pointers when the game was still in question and could have gone their way," VanMatre said. "His shots really put some distance between us and them and gave us some breathing room."
Heath McNeal got a rebound off a missed three-pointer and put it in the bucket for a 57-36 lead. After an Eastern score, the Tigers once again kicked it out to Ralph in the corner for his fourth three-pointer of the quarter. All 12 of Ralph's points came on a 4-of-5 three-point shooting performance in the fourth.
Jackson converted another three-point play with the foul shot to cap off his 26-point showing, and freshman Jeremy Webster came off the bench to score for the Tigers.
With McClain holding a 65-44 lead, VanMatre began to pull his starters with two minutes left.
In a fitting display for senior night, seniors Gill and Anderson combined to score the last four Tiger points, giving McClain the 69-46 victory.
With the regular season now behind them, the Tigers' focus now turns toward the tournament. The first step comes on Thursday, Feb. 16, when No. 1 seed McClain meets the winner of Monday's matchup between eighth-seed Washington C.H. (5-15) and ninth-seed Rock Hill (3-13 at the sectional draw) in the Division II Southeast District Tournament.
"It was a great night of basketball with a great crowd and a great atmosphere," VanMatre said. "It was a great way for us to finish on our home floor."
McCLAIN 69, EASTERN BROWN 46
VARSITY SCORE BY QUARTERS
McClain 15 18 10 26 - 69
Eastern Brown 4 19 10 13 - 46
McCLAIN- Neil Decker 0-0-0; Jerrod Ralph 0 (4)-0-12; Jeb Wisecup 0-0-0; Michael Howard 0 (1)-2-5; Skyler Gill 1 (1)-0-5; Corey Rose 3-0-6; Joel Anderson 1-0-2; Jared Lyle 0-0-0; Dante' Jackson 7 (2)-6-26; Matt Binegar 0-5-5; Zach Massie 0-0-0; Jeremy Webster 1-0-2; Thom Schottelkotte 0-0-0; Heath McNeal 2-2-6. TOTALS- 15 (8)-15-69. Field-goal shooting: 23 of 48 for 48%. Free-throw shooting: 15 of 17 for 88%. Three-point shooting: 8 of 18 for 44.4%. Rebounds: 26. Turnovers: 19. Team fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: Ralph 4, Jackson 2, Howard, Gill.
EASTERN BROWN- Kevin Hoover 2-0-4; Tyler Richey 0-0-0; Brett Beucler 2 (4)-5-21; Kevin Gosche 2-1-5; Blake Spiller 2 (1)-2-9; Jordan Michael 1-0-2; Zach Mays 1-0-2; Brian Watson 1-1-3; Jeff Henderson 0-0-0; C.J. Dorsey 0-0-0; Cody Beucler 0-0-0. TOTALS- 11 (5)-9-46. Free-throw shooting: 9 of 15 for 60%. Team fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Three-point goals: Beucler 4, Spiller.