Basketball Recap: Braden Ponceroff and Preston Luzader Secure Win for Clay-Battelle

Clay-Battelle lost to Tygarts Valley back in January, but they didn't allow them the same satisfaction on Monday. The Clay-Battelle Cee-Bees snuck past the Tygarts Valley Bulldogs with a 52-48 win. The victory was all the more spectacular given the Cee-Bees' disadvantage in MaxPreps' West Virginia basketball rankings (they are ranked 390th, while the Bulldogs are ranked 53rd).

Preston Luzader

Points

02/03/25 @ Tygarts Valley	24
01/31/25 @ Valley	19
01/28/25 @ East Hardy	23
01/27/25 vs Morgantown Christian Academy	21
01/23/25 vs Gilmer County	19
+ 5 more games

Leading Clay-Battelle to victory were Preston Luzader and Braden Ponceroff. Luzader dropped a double-double on 24 points and ten boards, while Ponceroff dropped a double-double on 13 points and 11 rebounds. Luzader's evening made it ten games in a row in which he has scored at least 19 points. Cooper Payton was another key player, putting up seven points.

Several Bulldogs players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Parker Bell, who posted 13 points and five rebounds. The dominant performance gave Bell a new career-high in boards. The team also got some help courtesy of Jacob Wamsley, who went 5 of 12 on his way to 14 points.

Clay-Battelle has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five contests, which provided a nice bump to their 9-4 record this season. Those victories came thanks in part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 59.4 points over those games. As for Tygarts Valley, the loss was their first at home , dropping their record down to 9-3.

Clay-Battelle wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next match, a 65-26 win against Trinity Christian on the 5th. As for Tygarts Valley, they have also already played their next game, a 49-28 victory against Notre Dame on the 5th.