FALMOUTH — It was a game that didn’t have much continuity or flow to it.
Marred by scoring droughts and misses in the paint from both sides, Mason County survived an ugly one in Falmouth, topping Pendleton County 53-45, Friday night.
“Sometimes an ugly win is better than a pretty loss. We’ll take it, we knew coming in it was going to be a tough battle and it always is here at Pendleton County,” Royals coach Brian Kirk said. “Coach Elsbernd has his kids playing hard and they were after us and gave us a lot of different looks. Give a lot of credit to our kids for stepping up to the occasion.”
The two teams combined to shoot 38 percent from the floor, combined for over 30 turnovers and both had scoring droughts spanning at least five minutes long.
Helped by two buzzer-beating 3-pointers at the end of the first and second quarters, Mason County took a 31-23 lead into halftime. Tredyn Thomas keeping the Wildcats in it with 14 first half points while the Royals used their balance with seven players in the scoring column.
Then the Royals defense really clamped down.
Mason County held the Wildcats to two points in the third while Alex Schalch scored eight of the 10 Mason County points in the quarter to take a 41-25 lead into the fourth.
“I felt like our defense was solid for the most part tonight. We made the adjustment on (Tredyn) Thomas in the second half and credit the kids for that adjustment and holding him to two points,” Kirk said.
Then the Wildcats defense decided it was their turn to really clamp down.
While holding Mason County scoreless for the first 6:30 of the fourth, they’d go on a 16-0 run to tie things up on a Clay Monroe layup with three minutes to play.
“It was 53-45 and that was too high honestly,” Wildcats coach Sam Elsbernd said. “We wanted it ugly. We just were unable to control our turnovers. Our kids were locked in the halfcourt every single possession and wanted to make them earn everything they had. I told our guys if we got on top we’d win. Just missed a couple shots and had some costly turnovers down the stretch.”
While Pendleton had their chances to take their first lead of the night, it was Schalch again stepping up when the Royals needed a bucket. His layup with 1:30 to play gave them a 43-41 lead.
“I thought we went away from Alex at times and we need to do a much better job at that. I’ve got to do a better job of putting him in position to receive the basketball because he’s a playmaker. Kolby (Jones) is a playmaker, Xylon (Frey) is a playmaker. I’ve got to do a better job of adjusting, getting those guys in position and being able to make a play off of that,” Kirk said.
Terrell Henry followed with a layup of his own off a turnover near a minute to play to make it 45-41.
After Monroe hit two free throws on the other end, a Kolby Jones putback off a missed free throw pretty much sealed the deal to give the Royals a 48-43 lead with under 30 seconds remaining, giving the Royals their fourth win in five games and improving to 10-7 on the year.
Schalch led the Royals with 18 points and also pulled down a team-high seven rebounds, about at his averages for the season. Henry added nine while Xylon Frey and Jones had eight points apiece, the Royals with a quick turnaround on Saturday as they’ll face Holmes at Fleming County at 12:45 p.m. in the Coach Lake Kelly Classic.
“Our guys have practiced long enough. This is why you play the game. This is the good thing about basketball, some other sports like football you’ve got to wait six to seven days to play another game. Basketball you can lace them up in less than 24 hours and we’re going to be doing that tomorrow,” Kirk said. “Holmes is in the same boat, they played Cov Cath tonight, tough game for them and I’m sure they’ll be ready to play. I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of the same looks as tonight as Elsbernd was an assistant under Coach Carr at Scott.”
Pendleton County was led by Tredyn Thomas on the evening, scoring 16 points. Monroe added 15 as the Wildcats dropped to 8-11 on the season.
ROYALS 53, WILDCATS 45
MASON COUNTY—17-14-10-12—53
PENDLETON COUNTY—9-14-2-20—45
Scoring
Mason (53) — Schalch 18, Henry 9, Frey 8, Jones 8, Swolsky 5, Brammer 3, May 2
Pendleton (45) — Thomas 16, Monroe 15, Askren 9, Barnard 3, Booth 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Mason 21/51, Pendleton 15/42
3-Pointers: Mason 3/15, Pendleton 2/16
Free Throws: Mason 8/14, Pendleton 13/17
Rebounds: Mason 36 (Schalch 7), Pendleton 27 (Booth 8)
Turnovers: Mason 13, Pendleton 18
Records: Mason County 10-7, Pendleton County 8-11
