BBK Final: Blanchester 68, East Clinton 41

BLANCHESTER — Behind Bryce Sipple’s 21 points and a three-point barrage, Blanchester led East Clinton wire to wire for a 68-41 victory Tuesday night at the BHS.

The league inter-county win brings the Wildcats record to 2-8 overall and 1-4 in the SBAAC National Division. They’ll get dressed and head home Friday night against Bethel-Tate.

As the only SBAAC National Division team without a win (0-4), East Clinton drops to the bottom of the league standings. Overall they are 0-10. They host Felicity-Franklin on Friday, hoping to score one in the win column.

Blanchester set the tone from the tip, quickly taking a 19-4 lead. Evan Mallott had two of his three shots from the back of the frame en route to scoring nine for the night, while Sipple netted 10 of his first 21. Dylan Creager also made three shots from long range. He scored 13, all in the second half, and with a high percentage.

“Sip (Bryce Sipple) plays hard every night. It is indisputable. He leads the team with it; he directs the children with his efforts. Dylan gave us some great minutes tonight. He really stepped up, made good decisions and was more willing to shoot the ball, thankfully because he looked really good. They both played very well,” BHS coach Mike Mallott said after the match.

On the night, the Wildcats made 10 three-pointers and executed at a very high level on the offensive side. Jansen Wymer finished the night in double digits with 10 points.

“We executed each game better and shot the ball well. We had a nice look, a nice look around the rim and we converted them. i feel like this [performance] comes because we start to execute better on offense,” Mallott said.

After the disastrous start, the Astros continued the game for most of the 32 minutes and did themselves no favors with a 5-for-14 performance from the free throw line.

Dakota Collom led the Astros with 12, including two shots from very long range. Dameon Williams and Xander Lake scored eight points.

“It’s a long season. We just have to keep our heads down and keep figuring things out. We are coming slowly. We will find out by the end of the year. We’re a good basketball team that hasn’t reached that potential yet, but we’re going to find it,” ECHS head coach Clyde Snow said after a long postgame in the locker room. “At this point in the road, the losses are on me. I don’t prepare my guys enough to go to a college basketball game. For us to compete, I need to do a better job of preparing for these games.

SUMMARY

January 3, 2023

@Blancchester High School

Blanchester 68, East Clinton 41

EC^10^9^12^10^^41

B^21^12^26^9^^68

(41) EAST CLINTON (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Huff 2-2-0-6 Collom 4-2-2-12 Williams 3-2-0-8 Mad Crowe 0-0-1-1 Lilly 1- 0-0-2 Terrell 0-0-0-0 Mess 0-0-0-0 Arnold 0-0-0-0 Max Crowe 0-0-0-0 Gulley 1-0-0-2 Luke 3-0 -2-8 Walker 1-0-0-2 TOTALS 15-6-5/14-41

(68) BLANCHESTER (fg-3fg-ft-tp) Sipple 10-1-0-21 Tangonan 1-1-0-3 Creager 4-3-2-13 Taylor 2-0-1-5 West 1-0- 0-2 Wymer 4-2-0-10 Malott 3-3-0-9 Estep 2-0-1-5 TOTALS 27-10-4/13-68

Photo by Matthieu Boucher

Photo by Matthieu Boucher

Photo by Matthieu Boucher