It took a strong defensive effort in the second half for Pineville to walk away victorious on Thursday in the first day of the J. Frank White Classic. After allowing Oneida, Tennessee easy points in the paint in the first half, the Mountain Lion defense stopped penetration to the basket and held the Indians to nine points in the third quarter.

That was enough for Pineville to cut the lead to one heading into the final period. The Lions outscored Oneida by seven points in the fourth to walk away with the 46-40 victory — ending a two game losing streak.

“We started off slow. We’ve had a hard time being consistent with our shooting. We really rely on our defense a lot to get our offense moving,” said assistant coach James David Strange. “(We) really try to get up in the passing lanes, and hopefully we can get a hand on it, get a steal and get to the rack. We got about three or four guys that can get to the rack pretty consistently. We hope that opens up the outside a little bit.”

For Pineville, it was a good win for a team still trying to find their way early in the season. It marks the third win of the year for the boys basketball team with the others coming against Oneida Baptist Institute and Owsley County.

“We’re still trying to find guys that are ready to step up. (We’re) trying to find our identity,” said Strange. “I feel like we got a lot of depth, but we got guys that still — when they get in there — don’t have a lot of consistency. We’re still throwing different people in there, different line-ups to see what our best look is.”

Josh Lawson, Clay Goodin and Ben Goodin each reached double digits for the Lions. Lawson led all scorers with 13 points while going 5-for-8 from the free-throw line. Both Clay and Ben Goodin ended the night with 11 points apiece.

Oneida was paced by Dante and Elijah West. Both players finished the game with nine points. Dalton Yancy chipped in eight points off the bench.

A 3-pointer by Reed Baker with less than five minutes to go in the half narrowed the Pineville deficit to 13-8. A pair of Ben Goodin free throws following a layup by Elijah West brought the score to 15-10.

The two teams traded baskets before back-to-back shots from Logan Stephens and Yancy increased the Indians’ lead to nine, 21-12. The Lions ended the half with a basket and a pair of free throws from Lawson to cut the lead to 21-16 heading into halftime.

The third quarter started out similar to the second with both teams trading baskets. Points from Ben and Clay Goodin narrowed the margin to 27-24 with 2:33 remaining in the quarter.

A free throw by Sam Carroll returned the lead to four until a layup and free throw by Goodin brought Pineville within one, 28-27. Lawson ended the quarter with a pull-up jumper that cut the lead to 30-29 in favor of Oneida.

The Lions finally claimed the lead, 31-30, in the final period after Clay Goodin opened the fourth with a jumper. The Indians tied the game briefly before layups by Baker and Goodin increased the margin to 35-31.

The two teams swapped baskets throughout the remainder of the game with Pineville hitting their free throws down the stretch to claim the six-point victory.

Up Next

Pineville (3-5) returns to action on Dec. 27 when they host Morgan County (8-1) at 3:30 p.m. on the opening day of the Pine Mountain Classic.

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Pineville 46, Oneida 40

PINEVILLE (3-5)

Clay Goodin 5 0-1 11, Josh Lawson 4 5-8 13, Ben Goodin 3 5-7 11, Chris Saylor 1 0-0 2, Landon Couch 1 0-0 2, Reed Baker 2 2-3 7. Totals: 16 12-19 46.

ONEIDA

Dante West 3 2-2 9, Chancery Botts 0 0-0 0, Zack Kazee 0 1-2 1, Elijah West 4 1-3 9, Logan Stephens 3 0-2 6, Nate Bowling 2 0-0 4, Dalton Yancy 4 0-1 8, Sam Carroll 1 1-2 3. Totals: 17 5-12 40.

Pineville 5 11 13 17 — 46

Oneida 11 10 9 10 — 40

3-point goals: Pineville 2 (C. Goodin 1, Baker 1), Oneida 1 (West 1).

Reach Anthony Cloud at 606-302-9090 or on Twitter @AnthonyCloudMDN