Cougars upend Ohio in 10th District opener | Local Sports

“We’re glad to get past a team of that caliber and be able to move on,” said Cougars coach Darren Lynam, whose team automatically advances to the upcoming 3rd Region Tournament. “Obviously, there’s a lot of excitement at the same time.

“I’ve said from the get-go that our main goal is to be able to get back to the Sportscenter. We have such a tough district down here — all three teams are ranked in the top five in the region — and luckily tonight we came out and played well enough and played a stellar fourth quarter to walk out of here with a win.”

McLean County trailed 36-33 entering the final eight minutes but surged ahead behind the efforts of a 13-1 scoring run. Ohio County was held to without a field goal in the quarter until Josh Manning’s layup with 44.9 seconds remaining.

On the offensive end, Brady Dame scored 13 of his 19 points in the second half — including a crucial stretch of eight consecutive points during the Cougars’ fourth-quarter run.

“We executed on both ends of the floor,” Lynam said. “Our defense has been really good all year. When we got the lead, I thought we were patient and thought we had a mismatch with Brady, especially out front. They had to put a big on him, and he’s just big and strong and sees the floor well.

“Basically, the fourth quarter is what won the game for us.”

Jaxon Floyd powered McLean County early, notching 16 of his game-best 20 points in the first half. The game was tied at 36 at intermission.

Parker Culbertson and Carson Kennedy scored 10 points apiece for Ohio County.

“We just didn’t show up to play,” Eagles first-year coach Paul Decker said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well at all. When you live and die by the 3, that’s kind of what happens.”

However, Decker noted, the loss doesn’t take away from the season his team had — especially after standout Elijah Decker went down with a knee injury midway through the campaign.

“I thought we got better as the year went on,” Paul Decker said. “The kids bought in. Early in the year, we weren’t very good, and our leading scorer, leading rebounder, leading assist guy goes down in the middle of the year. We adjusted, but we really missed him tonight. We battled all night, we just couldn’t get anything going.”

As McLean County gets ready for the 10th District Tournament title game, the Cougars’ strategy for snapping their eight-game losing skid to the Mustangs is simple.

“Come down here and give it everything we’ve got and man up,” Lynam said. “We have not beat them since I have been here. The worm has got to turn eventually. I don’t know if it’s going to turn Thursday, but we’re going to come down here and give it everything we’ve got.”

McLEAN COUNTY 12 14 7 17 — 50

OHIO COUNTY 9 17 10 5 — 41

McLean County (50) — Floyd 20, Dame 19, Ward 5, Lee 4, Cline 2.

Ohio County (41) — Culbertson 10, Kennedy 10, Lindsey 9, Manning 6, Southard 4, Morse 2.