Third Time the Charm: Keystone Downs Clarion-Limestone to Advance in District Playoffs After Losing Twice to Lions in Regular Season

STRATTANVILLE, Pa. (EYT/D9) – After losing their two regular season games to Clarion-Limestone, the Keystone Panthers made the third time the charm in defeating the Lions, 51-44, in a quarterfinal-round game of the District 9 Class 2A playoffs Wednesday night.

Four players combined for all 51 points for the Panthers with Tyler Albright leading the way with 23 points, Bret Wingard added 14 points with eight rebounds, Zander McHenry added eight points while Cole Henry chipped in with six points while adding 20 rebounds.

“Tyler has really improved this year and he can shoot the ball,” said Keystone coach Greg Heath. “I think he’s finally gaining more confidence in his shot, and I can say he’s becoming one of the better guards in the conference. Cole was a monster on the boards tonight for us. C-L was keying on Bret to try and shut him down, but he’s such a good athlete that even if he isn’t scoring, he’s able to do so many other things well.”

The opening quarter saw the lead change hands nine times with Keystone pilling ahead 14-12 after one.

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Albright scored 10 of the Panthers’ 14 points in the quarter. Riley Klingensmith scored seven for the Lions in the quarter.

Turnovers and missed shots ruled the second quarter as the teams combined for only nine points with Keystone holding a 5-4 edge to take an 18-17 halftime lead.

“If you look when we’ve had our losses this season it has been a combination of missing shots, turnovers, and missed free throws,” said C-L head coach Joe Ferguson. “Lately we had been knocking our free throws down, except for the past couple of games. Tonight we were getting some open looks, but we weren’t knocking them down.”

(Tyler Albright was named Hager Paving Incorporated Player of the Game)

Keystone scored the first six points of the third quarter to push its lead to seven at 24-17. After a 3-pointer by Jase Ferguson cut the lead to four at 24-20, the Panthers responded with the next five points to open a 29-20 lead with 2:39 to play in the quarter.

C-L cut the lead to seven at 32-25 by the end of the frame.

Keystone appeared to want to run away with the game by building an 11-point lead with just over five minutes to play in the contest, 40-29. However, C-L had other ideas as the Lions went on a 9-0 run, including back-to-back 3-pointers, to cut the lead to two at 40-38 with four minutes to play.

Keystone responded with an 8-0 run, breaking C-L’s press and running its motion offense for three easy layups in pushing the lead back to 10 at 48-38 with 1:01 to play.

“C-L fought back, but we were able to respond,” said Heath. “Our kids ran our motion offense well and we got some good cuts and a couple of layups when we needed them.”

Klingensmith paced C-L with 11 points, Tommy Smith added nine points on a trio of 3-pointers, Ferguson added eight, while Ryan Hummell scored seven points while pulling down eight rebounds.

“We’re graduating two seniors, so we have a fairly young team,” said Joe Ferguson. “Hopefully, the kids will come back next year, and this will build a fire under them to get better.”

C-L closes their season 11-11 while Keystone moves on to face top-seeded Redbank Valley in the semifinal round Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

Redbank Valley, Keystone, and Union/A-C Valley sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Heeter Lumber.