Basketball: Young Bobcat Varsity Team Shows Signs Of Promise In Loss To Veteran Cranberry Squad (01/22/15)
The Clarion Area Varsity Boys Basketball Team fell, at home, to a veteran Cranberry squad, 81-68 last night (Wednesday, January 21st). But in spite of the loss, the Bobcats showed some nice signs their young team has promise for the future.
(Photos by Brian Burford) Coach Smith exhorting his team
The Cats had three underclassmen score in double figures. Junior Taylor Smith, led all scorers with 26 points (two 3-pointers); he had a nice outside game but also had a number of buckets while finding open lanes and taking the ball inside.
Sophomore Ceventh Lynch-Skunda followed with sixteen (one 3-pointer), with a number of his points also coming while taking the ball to the hoop. I haven’t seen the Bobcats for a while and I mentioned to Coach Todd Smith that Lynch-Skunda seemed like a whole different player; the improvement is very dramatic. A very happy coach Smith agreed with my assessment.
Freshman Christian Smith had 15 points, with three treys. But he, also showed he can play a strong inside game, with a number of his points coming from inside. (I like to say, “Big things happen when you take it to the hoop.” And that was the case last night).
Senior Derek Lauer had 4 points. Sophomore Reed Anthony scored 3 points, while sophomore Ty Burford and freshman Cam Craig each chipped in with two.
Taylor Smith putting up a shot from inside
The young Cats showed resilience. Cranberry jumped out to a 26-13 lead after one, but Clarion came back by outscoring the Berries, 24-16 in period two and were only down by five, 42-37, at the half. The Berries had a 17-10 advantage in the third quarter, and held a 59-47 lead, heading to the last stanza.
The final period saw the two teams go toe to toe, with the Cats matching the Berries almost point for point, with Clarion scoring 21 points and the Berries 22, to set the final.
Cranberry had four players in double figures: senior Jacob Creighton – 25 points; senior Janco Swart – 16 points; junior Dechlyn Sheffer – 12 points: and senior Tim Swartzfager – 10 points.
Bobcats on defense
Coach Smith had some nice things to say about his young Bobcat team:
“It was a tremendous effort against a very experienced and talented Cranberry team. We were down 5 at the half and hung right in there. We were short handed tonight as well playing without our leading rebounder, Thomas Plummer due to an illness. I couldn’t be more proud of our team.
“Junior Taylor Smith led the team with 26 points including 3 three pointers. His 17 ppg puts him in the top 12 scorers in D9.
“Sophomore Ceventh Lynch-Skunda scored 16 points. In his last 4 games he is averaging 14.25 ppg. He has really come on and is our most improved player.
“Freshman Christian made his first varsity start and scored a career high 15 points including 3 three pointers.
“Freshman Cam Craig scored 2 points and played an all around solid game making some nice passes. He is our second leading scorer on the team to this point averaging 8 ppg.
“Sophomore Ty Burford scored 2 points and Senior Derek Lauer scored 4 points. Both players displayed great hustle and rebounding. They showed a lot of toughness against a much bigger opponent.
“Sophomore Reed Anthony scored 3 points. He and his brother Ryan provided a spark off the bench. They have excellent skills and give 100% at all times.
“My heart sunk for Junior Craig Kerr who worked so hard to come back from a knee injury from the beginning of the season and reinjured his knee in this game. Keep your chin up Craig, we need you back!
“This is a young team that is fun to watch. Come on out and show them your support!”
(Thanks to Brian Burford for the photographs. Very good effort, Bobcats!!!!)