Clayton Picks Up Season's First Hoops Win at Vianney Tournament

KIRKWOOD — After dropping two tough ballgames to start the new boys basketball season, the picked up their first win of the season Tuesday night with a 66-61 triumph over . It happened on Day 2 of the 44th annual Jerry Boeckman Memorial Invitational Tournament at .

The Greyhounds led 36-26 at halftime and pushed their edge to 13 points at one point. They held off a rally by the Wildcats for a five-point win.

“We’re a young team, still learning on the fly,” Clayton head coach Ryan Luhning said. “We were up by 10 with four minutes to go, so I think we’ve got to be a little better at closing games out. It was kind of our mantra to do whatever it takes to get a win, and that’s what we did tonight: Whatever it takes.”

A 33-point night by senior guard Clayton Buchanan helped the Greyhounds secure their first victory.

The 6-foot-1-inch silky smooth shooter knocked down 13 of 18 shots, including four three-pointers, for a career-high night.

Teammates Charlie Harned and A.J. Joseph added 12 points and 11 points, respectively. Clayton fell behind after the first quarter but dominated the remaining three quarters for the win over Eureka, which was playing its first game of the year.

“We were playing our third game, and this was their first, so we thought we’d have a little advantage there,” Luhning said. “It’s always kind of iffy for a coach in that first game trying to figure things out, and we thought we could confuse them by changing up our defenses a little bit.”

Clayton’s full-court pressure defense proved especially effective. The team forced 22 turnovers against Eureka and converted many of them into easy points.

One key moment in the game came late in the third quarter when junior Tyler Walker picked up an errant Eureka pass. He drove the length of the court and dropped off a nifty pass to Buchanan for a three-point play layup that gave the Greyhounds their biggest lead at 53-40.

“Clayton’s got that kind of ability,” Luhning said. “He didn’t score like that last year because we had (), but he’s always had that capability. He worked real hard over the summer, and hopefully he can do more of what he did tonight.”

The win puts the Greyhounds—which are 1-2 on the season—at 1-1 in pool play in the Boeckman Invitational. They will play in the tournament’s third-place game at 6 p.m. Friday night at Vianney. Clayton will face the loser of Wednesday night’s -Belleville West game.

The winner of that contest will face tournament host Vianney at 7:30 p.m. in the championship game.

Greyhounds basketball fans will get their first chance to see their team at home at 7 p.m. Tuesday in a nonconference game against .