12-11-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
CISNE - Cisne head coach Adam Ellis, during the first six games of the regular season, has tried to get his team to have more of a “killer instinct” when it comes to finishing off opponents.

In some of the games this season his club has struggled staying focused after getting leads.

On Thursday night, in their Homecoming game against Clay City, his kids may have finally gotten the message.

After allowing a couple of rallies in the first half to the visitors, Cisne pulled away in the third quarter and finished the game strong in their 71-54 triumph to improve to 2-0 in the Midland Trail Conference while getting to 3-4 overall.

Behind 18-points from Jayden Hatcher, 16-points from Nick Matthews and 14-points from Trent Thomason, the Lions broke a 35-all halftime tie to get a 17-point win at home.

Coach Ellis switched his team from a zone defense in the first half into a man-to-man in the second half. His strategy paid off as his club was clearly more aggressive and created more havoc for the guests.

“The man-to-man worked. We held them to 19-points in the second half after giving up 35 in the first half,” said Coach Ellis. “That (rebounding) is something we have struggled with and we had to get on them at halftime about getting on the boards. They can do it and are capable of rebounding better it is just a matter of effort.”

Clay City couldn't overcome some obstacles in its way in search of a road win.

First, and foremost, the Wolves (1-3 overall, 1-1 MTC) didn't shoot the ball well after a pretty good showing in the first half.

Coach Grant Keller's club hit just 18-of-46 from the field (39.1 percent) while missing 17 3-point attempts.

They were also out rebounded 28-20 while getting just one offensive board in the second half.

Missing shots and not getting second chances is a bad equation to have, especially away from home.

The Wolves were led by senior Jon Ashbrook with 14-points while Colin Klingler added 11.

Despite falling behind early in the game and then producing a good comeback in the second quarter, Clay City faded in the final 16-minutes.

CC played without two starters (Cody Pittman, Bobby Wicke) who were out with injuries.

Riding the wave of the Homecoming, Cisne jumped out to an 8-0 lead with the trio of leading scorers in the contest getting off to roaring starts, collectively.

Matthews, a 5-foot-11 forward who is strong around the basket, grabbed an early rebound for a put back to open the scoring just seconds into the game.

Hatcher and Thomason each made drives to the basket count for points and when Thomason, a 6-foot-1 senior forward, drove down the middle of the lane for his second score, Clay City needed a timeout with just 2:05 off the clock in the first frame.

“I felt like we could get inside anytime we wanted and we took the ball to the basket well tonight,” added Coach Ellis. “Whether it was dribble-drives or dumping it into our strong kids, we felt like we could be successful taking it in the paint.”

Ironically what got the Wolves back into the contest and got them even at the end of the second quarter turned out to be their eventual downfall.

The 3-point line was both their friend and enemy on Thursday night.

Back-to-back bombs from Ashbrook and 5-foot-11 junior guard Cletus Fehrenbacher cut into the Wolves deficit.

Fehrenbacher hit another 3-point shot later in the quarter and when teammate Mason Armstrong went strong to the basket on a offensive rebound, the game was tied at 16-apiece at the 2:13 mark.

Matthews converted a conventional three-point play to close the Cisne scoring in the first quarter but the Lions committed five first quarter turnovers and when sophomore guard Noah Wilkin finished a fast break after making a steal, the Wolves trailed just 19-18 after one period of play.

Clay City appeared to be ready for the long haul, as they managed to stay close until intermission.

In fact they hit for three more long distance shots in the second quarter.

All three of the 20-footers came from Klingler, 5-foot-11 junior guard.

He canned his first one from the right wing and followed that up with another one a minute later from the top of the circle.

In fact he scored all 11 of his points in the second quarter stretch, which got his club a couple of brief leads.

His third trifecta and a rebound basket by senior Blake Lamb put the Wolves in front 35-24 with :33 to go.

When Hatcher hit 1-of-2 charities with :06 left, the two clubs were even at the break.

“We knew going into the game that their dribble-penetration was something we were going to have to prevent. We didn't do a very good job communicating on defense and they hurt us in that area,” said Coach Keller. “And we have to attack the glass, especially offensively. We need more second chance opportunities.”

Cisne pulled away in the third quarter.

The Lions shored up most of the problems that they had in the first half and put together a strong final two quarters.

A 12-2 move to begin the second half put Coach Ellis' club in the driver's seat.

The same three Lions who led the club overall, got the job done in the third quarter.

Hatcher and Thomason each scored in to begin the run and Matthews added a couple of free throws to the total.

Sophomore Derek Thomason added a basket on a steal and transition score and when Matthews grabbed another offensive rebound for a put back, Cisne led 47-37 with 2:51 left in the third quarter.

Clay City had one last run at the Lions, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers (Wilkin, Lamb) to cut the disadvantage to just 47-43.

Cisne, however, pulled away from this point onward by scoring the last five points of the stanza with Matthews and Hatcher getting points in the paint and D. Thomason tossing in a free throw for a 52-43 lead at the horn.

A 10-2 sprint at the beginning of the final quarter closed the victory book for the hosts.

Senior guard Logan Hosick got in on the fun with a drive to the basket and two free throws by sophomore Jared Taylor helped out.

Trent Thomason drove to the basket (again) for points and when Hatcher padded his stats with four more points on a drive and two free throws, Cisne led 62-45 with 4:43 left.

When T. Thomason and Matthews closed out their scoring for the evening on drives to the goal while running a spread offense, the Lions had their largest margin of the night at 68-49.

Both coaches soon emptied the benches and reserves Tyler Beck (Clay City) and Devon Lane (Cisne) traded 3-point bombs to close the scoring in the final minute.

Cisne finished the night 27-of-47 from the floor (57.4 percent) and, despite 11-turnovers, they made for the Lions faithful a successful Homecoming night.

Clay City's next action is on Saturday afternoon at the Conrad Allen Wayne City Holiday Tournament against Patoka, a team that they lost to 80-39 back on December 5th.

“I thought in the first half we executed really well and we got it tied at halftime after they jumped out on us 8-0. We cleaned some things up defensively tonight but in the second half offensively we got a bit sloppy,” said Coach Keller. “It is something we talked about and it is something we can't do against a quality team like Cisne. They capitalized on our mistakes.”

Cisne will face the host Indians at the Conrad Allen on Monday night at 8:30 pm.

“They (Clay City) hit some tough shots in the first half and I told the kids at halftime we need to do a better job defending them,” said Coach Ellis. “When we switched to man-to-man we took a lot of those open looks away.”