Tucker Shamblin and Brady Holbrook combined to drain 11 three-pointers and score 40 points on Tuesday, leading Amanda-Clearcreek to a 50-45 non-league win over host Berne Union.
“We have a lot of things we need to work on and still get better at, but I’m extremely proud of the kids finding a way to win,” Amanda-Clearcreek coach Austin Smith said. “Tucker had a big game to lead us and then Brady had a breakout game that was nice to see.”
Smith, who claimed its first win leading his alma mater, also complimented the work of a trio of Aces who contributed to the win.
“Peter Smith gave us some huge minutes off the bench with his defense and rebounding, and Brody Elder had some big rebounds in the first half on both ends of the court,” he said. “Miguel Logo was our main defender tonight and he did a great job of holding Berne Union’s best player to just nine points.”
The Aces jumped out to an early 10-7 lead, powered by Shamblin draining a pair of three-pointers and finishing the period with seven points. Holbrook also tossed in a triple.
Amanda-Clearcreek (1-4) maintained its one possession lead to go into halftime with a 22-19 advantage, thanks to Holbrook knocking down a trio of three-pointers in the second period.
Berne Union (0-4) worked to make a move in the third quarter and grabbed a 34-31 lead headed into the final eight minutes.
The Aces came out strong to open the fourth quarter and build a three-possession lead, but the Rockets had one last run in them and rallied to take a four-point advantage.
After the Aces narrowed their deficit to a point, Shamblin knocked down a deep three to put A-C ahead to stay by two points.
Tanner Rose then came up with a steal with less than a minute to play and made a layup to put the Aces ahead by four.
“That was a huge steal by Tanner late in the game to put us up by two possessions,” Smith said.
Shamblin scored 10 of the Aces’ 19 fourth-quarter points and Rose accounted for four.
The Aces had a chance to pad their lead at different times during the fourth but missed five free throws in the period and were just 3 of 13 (23.1 percent) at the charity stripe for the game, which is one of the area of improvements that Smith alluded to.
Shamblin made six three-pointers en route to leading all scorers with 25 points, Holbrook drained five three-pointers to score 15 points and Rose chipped in six points.
The Aces resume Mid-State League Buckeye Division play on Friday when they host Hamilton Township.
