Clyde recovers but Lexington surges ahead for victory

WILLARD – Clyde cut a 15-point third-quarter deficit to four early in the fourth quarter Friday but fell to Lexington 81-65 in a Division II sectional final.

The Fliers trailed 44-29 following a bucket from Charlie Keller before Eric Wiseman dove to the court to swat an offensive rebound to Zach Rieman for an assist. Wiseman then scored 10 of his 19 points, including two 3-pointers for a 50-41 deficit.

Alex Marshall canned a 3-pointer for the final points in the third quarter before adding two free throws for a 52-48 margin. The Minutemen, however, scored the next five points and led by at least seven thereafter.

"It comes down to my team battling to the end," Clyde coach Lou Garcia said. "When my kids go out, they play hard for me. It's an honor to coach my team. I'm proud."

Lexington (14-10) led 30-16 after a basket from Dana Shoulders in the second quarter but the Fliers' Collin Rieman scored 14 of his game-high 28 points in the quarter as Clyde trailed 35-26 at the half.

"In that stretch, Collin did everything he had to do and Eric did everything he had to do in the third quarter to keep us alive," Garcia said. "I'm going to miss them."

Lexington posts Chase Munro and Jonah Yaussy played a huge role in a sectional semifinal victory over Bellevue earlier this week but the Minutemen dropped in six 3s in the first half against Clyde (13-8). AJ Nickoli hit a seventh to start the scoring in the second half.

"We wanted to give up the shots," Garcia said. "We went man in the third quarter to try to take that away and try to take the ball out of Joey Zahn's hands."

Zahn matched Keller with a team-high 18 points. Keller had four 3-pointers and Zahn three.

"My shot hasn't been falling like last year but Yaussy has been a constant," Zahn said. "The first goal is to play inside-out. When he find us we shoot a high percentage. We ran the floor. We got to the line a lot. Charlie was knocking his shots down.

"When he can have 17 or 18, that' when we're really good."

Zach Rieman added 11 points for Clyde.

mhorn@gannett.com

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