Basketball Recap: Clay-Battelle Drops Season-High Score on Valley

Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Clay-Battelle). They strolled past the Valley Lumberjacks with points to spare on Friday, taking the game 73-59. That result was just more of the same for these two, as the Cee-Bees also won the last time the pair played back in January of 2024.

Clay-Battelle's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Preston Luzader, who dropped a double-double on 19 points and 21 boards. Luzader's morning made it nine games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Braden Ponceroff was another key player, dropping a double-double on 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Clay-Battelle was working as a unit and finished the game with 17 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

When it comes to explaining why Valley lost, don't look at Gavin Derby. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 32 points and ten boards. Those ten rebounds gave Derby a new career-high. The team also got some help courtesy of Trevor Stackpole, who posted 11 points in addition to six assists and three steals.

Clay-Battelle has been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 61.3 points per game. As for Valley, with the loss, they broke their six-game winning streak and moved their record to 7-5.

Clay-Battelle has already played their next matchup, a 52-48 victory against Tygarts Valley on the 1st. As for Valley, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next contest, a 68-60 win against Wood County Christian on the 4th.