By JONATHAN GREENE
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
MONTCALM — In a close game, free throws can be your best friend or worst enemy.
Montcalm sent Mercer Christian to the line 33 times, but the Cavaliers could only connect on 19 of their freebies as the Generals held on for a thrilling 58-57 win on Tuesday night.
“I’m glad to get a win,” Montcalm head coach Lindsey Jones said. “They just went out there and did their best. We still have a lot of things that we need to work on to get us ready for the postseason.”
Caleb Janning scored the game’s opening basket for Mercer Christian as the teams traded scores over the first couple of minutes. Montcalm’s Andrew Agee gave the Generals an 8-4 lead after back-to-back drives to the hoop. A three by the Cavaliers’ Jonathan Easter cut it to 8-7, but Montcalm held a 15-9 advantage after one.
The second quarter was just as close as the first. Mercer Christian opened the quarter on a 6-2 run before Howard’s lay-up made it 19-15 with 5:31 left before halftime. Back-to-back jumpers from Kenny Shrewsbury brought the Cavaliers within one, but Michael Blackwell answered with a three and Montcalm took a 28-23 lead into the break.
Mercer Christian was dealt a big loss early in the third when their top scorer Jamie Beckner picked up his fourth and fifth fouls and was done for the night.
“That was pretty big,” Mercer Christian head coach David Lambert said. “He’s sick and wasn’t able to help us. I’m playing with freshman and we just didn’t execute.”
With Beckner on the bench, the Generals’ lead grew to as many as nine points after Blackwell’s second three of the night late in the third.
Foul trouble caught up to Montcalm in the final frames as the Cavaliers were able to slowly cut into their lead at the foul line.
“That’s something we’ve been working on all year is trying to play defense more with our feet and less with our hands,” Jones said. “We have a problem jumping to much and not taking charges. That’s the thing we’re working on. We want our team to take more charges and we didn’t have any tonight.”
Behind 14 fourth quarter points from Easter, Mercer Christian made it a three-point margin, 58-55, with just 21 seconds left. After Matt Pennington missed both of his free throw attempts, the Cavaliers marched down the court, but could only get a lay-up from Josiah Janning as the Generals held on for the victory.
“We just didn’t execute,” Lambert said after the game. “We didn’t box out. It just cost us. One of our players fouled out. We just didn’t execute tonight.”
Easter finished with a game-high 29 points while Josiah Janning added 10.
Blackwell led Montcalm with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Howard added 15 points and 9 boards.
The Generals (2-7) return to action Friday when they host Richwood while Mercer Christian (5-8) hosts Meadow Bridge on the same night.
Contact Jonathan Greene
at jgreene@bdtonline.com

at Montcalm High School
MERCER CHRISTIAN (5-8)
Beckner 1, Shrewsbury 8, C. Janning 8, J. Janning 10, Easter 29
MONTCALM (2-7)
Lambert 4, Blackwell 20, Agee 4, Pennington 6, Hamblin 2, Howard 15, Williams 2, Lanter 5.
Mercer Christian............9 14 10 24 — 57
Montcalm......................15 13 14 16 — 58
3 pt field goals: MCA 4 (Easter 4); MON 2 (Blackwell 2)