Photo | Michael Browning
Scott's Anthony Sigmon (23) goes up for a shot as Mingo Central's Jason May (24) closes in on defense during the Skyhawks 60-55 sectional tournament loss in Logan on Saturday night.
Scott was led by lone junior Matt Dolan’s 20 points in the losing effort. Sophomore Cody Brown netted nine and classmates Anthony Sigmon and Alex Ables each scored seven, while Dylan DeHart poured in six and Logan Webb finished with two.
The Skyhawks led 13-10 after the first quarter, but were outscored 19-10 in the second to go into halftime trailing, 28-23.
“We shot ourselves into a hole in the first quarter,” Mingo Central Coach Duane Estep said. “We probably didn’t shoot 5 percent in the first quarter and they were wide-open shots. We usually knock those down.But, maybe it was a little bit of the butterflies. Once we got settled down and started going inside, I thought our game came along pretty good after that.”
The two teams scored evenly in the second half, 32-32, and the Miners held on for their first-ever sectional tournament victory.
Mingo Central was led by Nick Lee with 15 points, five rebounds, two steals and an assist. Next for the Miners was David Hatfield with 12 points, two rebounds and one assist. Corey Cook scored 11 points, grabbed a rebound and gave an assist. Austin Banks netted a pair of 3-pointers and a foul shot for his seven points. He also gave four assists, grabbed three rebounds.
Troy Starr scored six points, grabbed two rebounds, got two steals and gave an assist for the Miners. Jason May scored five and got a pair of rebounds. Alex Lee scored four, got three rebounds and gave two assists.
Ashton Cline got a rebound.
The Miners scored 20 field goals, including five 3-pointers. From the foul line, Mingo Central made 15-of-24 for 62.5 percent. Cook sank 5-of-6 free throws, while Hatfield scored 4-of-5 and Starr hit 3-of-4.
Scott made 21 field goals, including four 3-pointers. They made 9-of-14 foul shots for 64.28 percent.
Trailing 19-13, the Miners went on a 15-4 run over the final 3:37 of the second quarter that put them ahead 28-23.
Cook started the run with a foul shot, then Nick Lee added a shot from under the basket, Banks hit a 3, Hatfield scored off an assist by Cook, who then scored a bucket, Hatfield netted a shot and free throw and May scored on a running tossin.
The Skyhawks managed just one bucket before intermission, a layin by Webb that set the halftime score.
Scott Coach Nick Cabell said his team’s failure to get back on defense cost them the lead.
“They beat us back in transition two or three straight times and got two fouls so they went to the foul line and knocked down their free throws. They went on a 7-0 run just because we didn’t get back on defense,” Cabell said. “They got the lead going into halftime and we just never could get that lead back.”
Scott cut the Miners’ lead to one twice in the third quarter with a 6-2 run that was helped by an Ables’ putback and foul toss, and at the 4:30 mark when Dolan scored from under the basket, but they would get no closer the rest of the game.
In the fourth quarter, the Miners nearly squandered an 11-point lead by taking unnecessary shots that were off their mark and allowed Scott to cut the MCHS advantage to 55-53 on two foul shots by Dolan with 32 seconds remaining in the game. Scott got its final basket from Sigmon with 15.4 seconds left to make it a 57-55 game and keep the Skyhawks’ hope alive.
Scott called a timeout to regroup with 14.9 seconds to go in the game, but were forced to foul the Miners the rest of the way.
Starr made it 58-55 by hitting the first of two double-bonus foul shots and Hatfield muscled his way into the lane to grab the rebound off the missed second free throw. Mingo Central worked the ball around to Nick Lee, who was fouled, and made both his charity tosses with 8.5 seconds left on the clock to seal the win shut.
“We have younger guys underneath, sophomores and freshmen, and their guys were so much stronger than ours, and on the foul shots, I think they got two or three rebounds off of their own foul shots and you can’t let that happen if you expect to win, especially at the end,” Cabell said. “We’ve just got to stay in the weight room and get a little stronger to keep teams off the boards next year.”
Scott finished its season with a 7-16 record.
Estep said his team hustled on defense.
“I think sometimes we were wanting to play so hard, we were overplaying,” Estep said.
The Miners improved to 13-10 and will now play Tug Valley tomorrow night in the 6 p.m. game in Logan. Mingo Central has lost twice to Tug Valley by 30 in each of their regular season games.
“We need to be more patient on offense, be a little more physical on the offensive and defensive ends of the game, stay with the gameplan a little more and box out and rebound,” Estep said. “We need to take care of closing out on shooters and we need to have more composure about ourselves. I got a little stubborn the last game, we were down five points there in the third quarter and I took some kids out who weren’t doing what we wanted them to do and I got a little stubborn and didn’t put them back in and they ended up beating us pretty good. But, this time of the year, it’s one game and done, so anything can happen if we come out and play hard and play our gameplan.”
To contact Logan Banner Staff Writer Michael Browning, call 304-752-6950, extension 309, or email him at mbrowning@loganbanner.com.
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