Written By: Logan Barker
The Mingo Central Miners were on the road this past Friday to play the Lincoln County Panthers. This game was a back and fourth ball game from start to finish, but it was the Miners that were able to pull away in the third quarter and hold on in the 4th with a 65-58 victory.
This first half of the game, the Panthers were in control for the most part. Lincoln County had a lead as large as 18 during the first half, but there was still another half to be played. Mingo Central came out of the locker with a different level of intensity. During the third quarter, the Miners went on a 26-0 run, ignited by Brody Dotson’s hustle plays and just amazing team defense. This allowed them to take control of the game and get up to a 10 point lead. Lincoln County didn’t put their heads down and give up though. In the final minutes of the 4th quarter there were multiple times that Lincoln county tied the game up, but it was Mingo Central that went on another clutch 7 point run to close the game out, led by a huge 3 pointer from starting point guard Caden Porter.
A big key to the Miners’ success was their ability to rebound the basketball. As a team, Mingo Central had 41 rebounds. Chris Ross was a very big reason for that as he led the team in rebounds with 11 rebounds and also had 3 steals, right behind him is Kendan Trent with 10 rebounds and Dotson with 9 boards as well, including 3 on the offensive end.
Ethan Thomason was able to get going this game. He had 15 points, shooting 3/8 from behind the arc. Trent and Ross were also major contributors scoring the basketball as Ross had 12 points and Trent had 13. Dotson was also able to get into double digit scoring with an additional 10 points. Porter had 8 points with an additional 5 assists and Aidan Burke had 7 points and 2 blocks.
Both Trent and Ross had double-doubles this game with Dotson only 1 rebound shy of one. Dotson was a huge reason for the team’s success as he came off of the bench and had an amazing impact. He dove on every loose ball and was playing well on both sides of the ball for the Miners.
Coach Peyton Adams for Mingo Central had a lot to say about the difference of intensity starting in the 2nd half, ”That momentum really changed at the half. The coaching staff decided to stay in the hallway a little bit longer and give some time for some leadership to happen. The 1st half had nothing to do with X’s and O’s and had everything to do with our energy and intensity so we knew for us to get to where we wanted to get to this season we needed a player led team. So it was a perfect time to allow some players to step up into a leadership role. So nothing really happened at the half. We kept the same game plan in the second half as we did in the first. It was just a whole different team from an intensity standpoint.”
With the victory, Mingo Central now advances to 1-1 on the season and Lincoln County falls to 0-3. Mingo Central takes on the Man Hillbillies on Tuesday, December 12th at 7:30 pm on Miner Mountain. This will be the home opener for the Miners and they will be looking to improve to 2-1.
JV starts at 6:00 pm Varsity starts at 7:30 pm.
