Eagles hope to overcome setback in fight for title

Press Sports Editor
sports@presspublications.com

At the midway point of the season, Clay’s boys basketball team finds itself at 6-5 and 3-1 in the Northern Lakes League Cardinal Division, very much alive for a conference title.
That’s the good news.
The bad news is the Eagles are losing 6-1 senior guard Emir Walker, a transfer from St. Francis, for the rest of the season.
Walker leads Clay with an average of 14.0 points and 5.3 rebounds, but he’s had help from the likes of 6-0 guard/forward Jayden Williams (10.7 points) and 6-2 guard/forward Mason Heintschel (9.6 points), among others. Under the guidance of first-year coach Lionel Armstead, the Eagles have already tripled their win total from last season and find themselves one game back in the loss column behind Napoleon (10-1, 3-0).
The Wildcats will host Clay on Friday.
The Eagles are riding high following wins over Bowling Green (62-60) and Fremont Ross (50-43), which came after losses to Toledo Christian (71-59) and Southview (56-51) in overtime.
The win over the Bobcats saw Clay win on a layup at the buzzer by Williams, off a nice pass from Walker, after rallying from a 44-26 deficit at halftime. But the Eagles outscored BG, 22-4, in the third quarter, tying the score at 48-48 following a putback by Walker with 15 seconds remaining.
Walker had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead Clay, Heintschel finished with 16 points and four boards and Williams chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Armstead, who played college basketball at West Virginia, talked about the challenges that come with playing in a good conference.
“It’s extremely tough. There are plenty of balanced teams, teams that are prepared for games. The league is well-scouted; the teams are prepared,” he said. “There are teams that have great players but are even better teams. These teams play with effort, run their (offensive) sets and play team defense.”
Armstead talked about what Walker brought to the table.
“He’s definitely a guy that can score in a variety of ways, whether it’s the 3-pointer or off the dribble,” said Armstead. “Last night (in the win over BG), he had nine rebounds to go with his 20 points.
“We’ll need guys to fill the void of his stats. The biggest thing is that we have multiple guys step up. It’s up to the team to pick up the slack. You take it one possession at a time,” he said.
The starting lineup featured Aiden Berryman at point guard with Walker joining him in the backcourt. Now, it will either be Dom Pegish or Grant Oberdick in place of Walker with Williams and Heintschel playing forward and Carson Vincent at center. Hudson Byers is seeing action as well, as are Logan Lajiness, Lucas Jeremy and Ben Roberts. The other league win was a 45-35 victory over Springfield, a game where Williams had a game-high 14 points and Walker and Byers scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The lone league defeat was a 56-51 loss in overtime to Southview.
Clay has had an up-and-down season, to say the least. The club hasn’t won or lost more than two consecutive games.
The Eagles have faced a very tough schedule, their five losses coming to teams like stalwarts Whitmer and Findlay, with the opponents sporting a 46-6 (.885) record.
Going from the Three Rivers Athletic Conference, which folded after a 12-year run last year, to the Cardinal Division has been a welcome change, but the Eagles are still facing stiff competition. The real reasons for the team’s greatly improved play is because of the time and energy invested by the players, and the leadership of Armstead, a 1998 graduate of Emmanuel Christian High School.
“I’ve never coached a more unselfish team. These are guys that don’t have egos and they work hard,” said Armstead. “The transition has been great.”
Armstead, who was the EC coach for the past four years before coming to Oregon, said it’s been a big challenge and an adjustment rebuilding the program.
“We want to get Clay back on track, that’s the biggest thing,” he said. “The community and school and the administration have been great.”