Staunch Defense Lifts Karns City to a Road Victory Over Clarion-Limestone

STRATTANVILLE, Pa. (EYT/D9) – After a sluggish first half which saw Karns City trail 20-19 at halftime, the Gremlins turned things up a notch defensively and on the boards in outscoring the Lions 34-17 for the second half to come away with a 53-37 victory, spoiling Senior Night at the Lion’s Den.

(Above, Taite Beighley)

“C-L came out in a box-and-one in the first half and we weren’t exactly ready for that,” said Karns City coach Zach Kepple. “We made some adjustments at halftime and started doing what we’re known for, which is tightening things up defensively and getting on the boards.”

Taite Beighley scored 18 points to lead the Gremlins, while Micah Rupp collected a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds.

Riley Klingensmith paced C-L (10-9 overall) with 10 points, though eight of those came in the first quarter. Ryan Hummell and Jase Ferguson each scored nine for the Lions.

The Gremlins held Jordan Hesdon to five points for the contest.

“We knew Hesdon was one of their main guys, so we wanted to focus on him defensively, but in general we just wanted to play solid defense on everybody, and we did that especially in the second half,” said Kepple.

Both teams seemed content to play a slowdown game in the first quarter in which C-L held a 12-7 lead after one. Klingensmith scored eight of the Lions 12 points in the quarter.

Karns City then turned the tables in the second quarter in holding a 12-8 scoring edge to trail by one at 20-19 at the break.

C-L opened the third quarter on a 5-0 run to push their lead to six at 25-19 at the 6:07 mark.

Karns City answered with a 6-0 run of their own to tie the game at 25-all. After 1-of-2 free throws by Hesdon put C-L back in front 26-25 with 4:36 to play, Luke Garing scored on a putback to give Karns City the lead for good at 27-26. The Gremlins then closed the quarter on a 10-4 run to lead 37-30 after three.

Karns City made 8-of-11 free throws in the fourth quarter while holding a 16-7 scoring advantage to set the final score.

“We had some positive things we can take away from tonight,” said C-L head coach Joe Ferguson. “The kids didn’t quit, and we got a few turnovers, but we were unable to convert in the fourth quarter which had we converted could have cut their lead down to a one or two possession game. We either missed the shots or turned the ball back over ourselves. Turnovers really hurt us tonight and we’re not a team that can survive if we have a multiple turnover game.”