By TODD REED
News Leader Sports Editor
www.tnl-news.com
Claymont broke open a close game with 13 straight points to start the fourth quarter, and never looked back as they won a sectional finals contest against Minerva 65-43.
The Lions were never able to generate much offense, as they saw their season end at 12-9.
The Mustangs led 11-8 after the opening quarter and 28-20 at halftime. The winners stretched their lead to 43-34 entering the final eight minutes of play.
In the fourth, Claymont scored the first 13 points, taking a 56-34 advantage.
Brian Harp, who has missed most of the second half of the season with a knee injury, returned to the starting lineup, scoring a team-high 13 points and grabbing four rebounds.
Ellis Battista added eight points and three boards, Ryker Locke had six points, and Drew Prendergast and Mitch Dulaney each had four points.
The Lions were 16-of-47 from the field and 9-of-14 from the line, while Claymont was 23-of-48 from the floor and 17-of-22 from the line.
Daniel Wise led Claymont with 24 points and 11 rebounds, while Aaron Cox chipped in with 21 points and four assists.
Minerva 79 - United 61
Last week, the Lions closed out their regular season with a 79-61 win over host United.
Trailing 10-0 just two minutes into the contest, Minerva closed out the first stanza with a 29-7 run thanks to its outside shooting.
The Lions connected on five first-quarter 3-pointers. Damien Elifritz did most of the damage, scoring 12 of his game-high 25 points.
Elifritz tallied two more long bombs in the second stanza, and D.J. Marrah scored seven points, as the Lions stretched their lead to 22 heading into intermission, 51-29.
Minerva led by as many as 25 points in the second half, as it cruised to its 12th win of the regular season.
Elifritz led all scorers with 25 points. He also had six rebounds, three steals, and two assists.
Ellis Battista added 10 points and four boards; Eli Maurer had seven points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals; Marrah had seven points;, Drew Prendergast had five points and four rebounds; Chas Johnson had five points and two boards; and Jeremy Fick had a team-high 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists.
"I thought we really played well and took advantage of their youth with our press," stated Head Coach Pepper Locke. "We had 12 kids score, which is always nice to see. Our pressure caused them some difficulties.
"We got some nice breaks off of our press and the fact that they wanted to trap the rebounder. Once we got the ball out of the trap, we were able to get some easy looks.
"Damien had a real monster of a game. It was a very solid win on the road without two starters in Brian Harp (knee) and Ryker Locke (ankle). They are working back from some injuries."
Minerva was 26-of-63 from the field and 19-of-31 from the line, while the Golden Eagles were 20-of-58 from the floor and 20-of-33 from the charity stripe.
The Lions led in rebounds 38-31 and committed 16 turnovers, while forcing 21 United miscues.
Ryan Sarchet led the Golden Eagles with 15 points. Brett Albright added 13 and Zack Taylor had 12 points.
treed@the-review.com
Comments