The Clarkrange Buffaloes jumped out of the gate with a productive first half Thursday night as CHS rolled to a 67-52 victory over visiting Coalfield.
Clarkrange led by double digits for most of the first half and, when Coalfield rallied in the second period, held off the Jackets to secure the victory.
“Coalfield is very good and has some very good big guys,” said Clarkrange Coach Brent Logan. “So, we wanted to spread the floor and make them work from the outside in. We had to work for it, but I felt like we did what we wanted to.
“Their No. 3 [Waylon Burgess] is a great player. Mason McWhirter is basically our defensive stud and we were able to take him out of the game. He’s going to get his points. But every time we had a high ball screen for him, we tried to blitz it. We wanted to make someone else do something.”
Braxton Sears and Bryton Swallows helped Clarkrange to the good start with buckets in the paint. The Buffaloes rolled to a 26-16 lead on a shot by Swallows.
When Sears hit a jumper from the wing in the second period, Clarkrange led 45-29 near the end of the first half.
Coalfield wouldn’t go away and stayed in the game with good shooting from Burgess, Knox Pemberton and Levi Heidel.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that can score the basketball and that was probably the best we’ve ever come out to start the game,” Logan said. “It was the best as far as emotion-wise and being ready to play the game.”
Logan said he didn’t do a lot at halftime. He said he talked with his teams about a couple of ideas, but basically told the players to keep doing that they were doing.
Coalfield tried to rally in the second half with buckets from Burgess, Kyle Wright, Jake Duncan and Heidel to stay close and trail 60-44 heading into the final eight minutes of action.
“We had a good gameplan. They were hitting everything they put up, while we couldn’t make a shot to start the third period,” Logan said. “When Coalfield started to make its run, I was very impressed with how our guys reacted.”
Clarkrange will visit Pickett County Jan. 21 before hosting Gordonsville Jan. 24 for Homecoming. The first game each night is set for 6 p.m.