STRATTANVILLE, Pa. (EYT/D9) — The Clarion-Limestone boys basketball team put together a strong first quarter and cruised to a 61-37 victory over visiting Kane in the opening round of the District 9 Class 2A playoffs on Wednesday evening.
(Clarion-Limestone’s Jack Callen, Jack Craig and Rylie Klingensmith swarm Kane’s Scott Szymanski during the Lions’ win/photo by Diane Lutz)
The Lions jumped out to an 11-0 lead early, prompting a timeout by Kane. C-L closed out the quarter with a 22-5 advantage.
“Any time at this point in the season if you can get off to a quick start, it help,” said Clarion-Limestone coach Joe Ferguson. “Tonight I think our start got them down a bit and our confidence grew.”
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C-L continued to keep the pressure on in the second quarter as the Lions outscored the Wolves, 21-9, to extend their lead to 43-14 by halftime.
“Our defensive effort tonight was terrific, especially in the first half,” Ferguson said. “Our pressure defense can put so much pressure on the other team, and our guys feed off of that.”
Kane made just five shots from the floor in the first half.
The Wolves began to heat up a little from the field early in the third quarter and cut the lead down to 45-22, but the Lions once again seized control and put the game into the mercy rule running clock on a 3-pointer by Jack Craig with two minutes to play in the third.
C-L grabbed a 61-28 lead after three quarters.
Kane finished off the game with a 9-0 score in the fourth.
“I’m proud of our seniors who played their last game on their home floor tonight,” Ferguson said. “They worked so hard this season, and I’m so proud of what they’ve accomplished to this point.”
Rylie Klingensmith paced the Lions with 15 points, while grabbing six rebounds. Alex Painter added 11 points. Jack Callen scored eight points with eight rebounds. Tommy Smith chipped in six points and six rebounds and Ty Rankin had a team-high nine boards.
Jase Ferguson, in his return from an injury, collected six steals and five rebounds.
Ricky Zampagna led Kane with 16 points.
Clarion-Limestone (23-2) will square off against Karns City (21-4) for the fourth time this season when the two teams clash in the semifinal round on March 1 at a site and time to be determined.
The Lions have defeated the Gremlins in two of the three meetings so far, the last coming just a few days ago by a 51-46 score in the Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference final.
“It should be a pressure-packed game,” Joe Ferguson said.
Clarion-Limestone Area High School sports coverage on Explore and D9Sports.com is brought to you by Redbank Chevrolet and DuBrook.
