STRATTANVILLE, Pa. (EYT/D9) — Playing on back-to-back nights didn’t seem to bother the Clarion-Limestone boys basketball team as the Lions used a 17-0 quarter-ending run to turn an 8-6 deficit into a 23-8 lead en route to a 78-60 victory over Union on Wednesday evening.
(Pictured above, Alex Painter tries to go up for a shot as Union’s Payton Johnston defends/photo by Diane Lutz)
The victory was the 15th in a row for Clarion-Limestone (17-1).
Alex Painter led the Lions with a career-high 19 points.
Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
Jordan Hesdon added 14, Jack Callen 13, and Riley Klingensmith 10.
C-L had 11 of the 13 players on the roster enter the scoring column for the evening.
Callen grabbed seven rebounds while Ty Rankin pulled down five boards. Painter collected four steals. Jase Ferguson collected seven steals and five assists before leaving the game in the third quarter with an apparent arm injury.
“We have a lot of guys who are capable of leading us in scoring on any given night,” said C-L head coach Joe Ferguson. “Tonight, Alex had the hot hand. It makes us hard to defend when you can get scoring from a number of sources.”
C-L trailed 8-6 midway through the first before Ferguson started the run with a 3-pointer (his only points of the evening). Hesdon capped the run with a runner in the lane at the buzzer for the 23-8 lead.
Union scored the first five points of the second to cut the lead to 10 at 23-13, but once again the Lions responded with an 18-4 run to push the lead to 41-17.
C-L was up 49-22 at halftime.
A Painter 3-pointer near the six-minute mark of the third quarter put the mercy rule running clock into effect with a 59-27 C-L lead. The Lions held a 71-40 lead after three.
Union made the score look a lot closer with a 20-7 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter to set the final score.
Payton Johnston paced Union with 19 points while Trey Fleming added eight. Dawson Camper and Zander Laughlin each scored seven points.
The win, though, came at a price as Ferguson left the game after crashing into the wall following a charging call with 1:35 left in the third quarter.
There is no more information available on his injury.
Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
