Welcome
     Front Page
     Subscription Info
     Letter To The Editor
     Local Links
     Question of the Week
     Contact Us

Foul-plagued Tribe can’t slow down Cards

1/18/2021

By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor

Junior guard Jerone Morton broke loose for 39 points Friday night at the Clark County Gym as the Cardinals out-gunned the Montgomery County Indians, 95-79.

Morton scored a dozen points in the opening period as Clark County took a 24-18 lead.

In the second period the Indians lost the services of senior Rickey Lovette with Clark leading 29-24.

Lovette was called for a foul and a technical foul and had to go to the bench with three total fouls at that point and the Cardinals moved out to a 45-33 halftime lead.

Then, with the Cards leading 50-40 in the third quarter, Lovette was called for a fourth foul and with him back on the bench the Cards pulled out to a 71-54 advantage at the end of three quarters.

As it turned out, with Lovette in the game the Cards had a 54-49 advantage and without him it was 41-30.

Clark County out-scored the Indians 18-3 from the three-point line in the first half with senior Jared Wellman connecting for three, Morton one and Aiden Slone, a transfer from Danville, hitting two.

After falling behind by a dozen points at halftime the Indians got back to within eight on several occasions in the second half but never any closer.
A 10-4 run at the end of the third period left the Cards up 71-54 entering the final eight minutes and they built the lead to 22 at one point before settling for the 16-point victory that improved their record to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in district play while the Indians fell to 1-1 both overall and in district action.

While Morton had the big night for Clark County, Wellman contributed 19 points, including a five for 11 night behind the arc. He also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.

Slone finished with 15 and was three of seven on three-pointers with junior post player Stanley Smothers adding 14.

Junior guard Hagan Harrison led Montgomery County with 24 points with senior forward J.T. Woosley adding 16 points and nine rebounds.
Lovette managed 13 points and 10 rebounds in his time on the floor.
The Indians also suffered from not having junior guard Trey Carroll available much of the night.

Carroll picked up two early fouls and then got a third almost immediately after coming back into the game. He didn’t score in the first half but came back with seven points, including a three-pointer, in the second half.

A bright spot for Montgomery County was the play of junior Collin Barnes and sophomore Alex Hatton, in the low post.

The two combined for 13 points and 10 rebounds as they tried to fill the void left by Lovette’s absence.

Both teams shot the ball well but Montgomery County was guilty of 23 turnovers to only 13 for the Cardinals.

The teams were also mediocre at the charity line, the Indians hitting only seven of seven with Clark connecting on 16 of 28 tries.

Although the crowd was limited to family members, with two games and roughly 60 players, plus the Clark County cheerleaders, there was a reasonably good atmosphere for the contest.

With the loss the Indians losing streak against the Cardinals was extended to 11 games with the last Montgomery County win coming in February of 2016.

The two teams will meet again Jan. 22 at the MCHS Arena.
Clark County topped the Indians four times last season, all by nine points or less with the final Cardinal win coming by a 53-50 count in the finals of the 10th Region Tournament at Clark County.

This week, the Indians were scheduled to take on Pendleton County Tuesday night at home before traveling to Bourbon County for a game Friday night and then will be at Franklin County on Saturday.

Big number
The 95 points that the Indians allowed were the most scored against an MCHS squad since Dec. 22, 2016, at Mercer County when Knott County Central topped the Tribe, 101-65.

MCHS (79) — Hagan Harrison 10-20 1-4 24, Trey Carroll 2-4 2-2 7, Rickey Lovette 6-12 1-5 13, Brandon Dyer 1-5 0-0 3, J.T. Woosley 7-7 2-3 16, Alex Hatton 2-3 0-1 4, Collin Barnes 4-6 1-2 9, Breccan Decker 1-4 0-0 3, Landon Caldwell 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 33-61 7-17 79.

Clark County (95) — Jerone Morton 14-23 10-15 39, Trent Edwards 1-1 0-0 2, Jared Wellman 6-13 2-4 19, Aden Slone 6-13 0-0 15, Stanley Smothers 6-7 0-0 12, Jeremiah Mundy-Lloyd 0-4 3-5 3, Chris Morton 0-0 1-2 1, Reed Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Sammy Hernandez 0-0 0-1 0, Reshaun Hampton 1-2 0-0 2, Dylan Gibson 0-1 0-0 0, Chester Abbott 0-0 0-2 0. Totals 35-67 16-29 95.

MCHS 18 15 21 25—79
Clark 24 21 26 24—95

Three-point field goals — MCHS 6-13 (Harrison 3-7, Carroll 1-1, Dyer 1-4, Decker 1-1); Clark County 9-24 (Morton 1-3, Wellman 5-11, Slone 3-7, Mundy-Lloyd 0-2, Johnson 0-1, Hampton 0-1). Rebounds — MCHS 42 (Lovette 10, Harrison 9, Woosley 8, Hatton 5, Barnes 5); Clark County 39 (Wellman 9, Morton 7). Assists — MCHS 14 (Harrison 6, Carroll 3, Lovette 1, Woosley 1, Dyer 2, Caldwell 1.) Turnovers — MCHS 23, Clark County 13. Total fouls — MCHS 21, Clark County 19. Fouled out — Edwards, Lovette. Technical fouls — Lovette, MCHS bench.