Basketball Recap: Payton Bailes Leads a Balanced Attack to Beat Clay County

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Previous 5 Games

02/07/25 - Home	53-44 W
12/18/24 - Away	54-45 W
02/22/24 - Home	78-45 W
02/09/23 - Away	70-43 W
02/25/20 - Away	59-69 L

Midland Trail won the last time they faced Clay County and things went their way on Friday too. The Midland Trail Patriots walked away with a 53-44 win over the Clay County Panthers. That's two games straight that the Patriots have won by exactly nine points.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Midland Trail to victory, but perhaps none more so than Payton Bailes, who went 8 of 20 on his way to 23 points in addition to six rebounds and four steals. That's the most steals Bailes has posted since back in December of 2023. Thad Brown was another key player, putting up 18 points and six boards.

Midland Trail has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 10-6 record this season. The wins came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 62.6 points over those games. As for Clay County, their loss dropped their record down to 5-10.

Coming up, Midland Trail will welcome Summit Christian Academy at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. As for Clay County, they won't have much time to rest: their next matchup is against South Harrison at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday. South Harrison knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past four games -- so hopefully Clay County likes a good challenge.