Peebles’ Paxton Ryan looks for a path to the rim through Easter defenders in the Indians’ 71-70 loss on January 6. Ryan led the Indians with 23 points. (Photo courtesy of Mandy Lynn Photography)
Furious rally falls short as Peebles drops SHAC showdown to Eastern
The imposing figure of a leaping Matthew Dick (55) from Eastern Brown greets Peebles’ Josh McClary on his way to the basket in action from the two teams’ huge SHAC match up on January 6. (Photo courtesy of Mandy Lynn Photography)
Peebles’ Braylen Stephens (32) elevates over Eastern’s Carter Cluxton (22) to get off a shot in the Indians one-point conference loss to the visiting Warriors. (Photo courtesy of Mandy Lynn Photography)
By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
After racing to an 8-0 start to their 2025-26 season, Coach Josh Arey and his Peebles Indians ran into a couple of road blocks last week, dropping two conference games, falling out of first place int he small school division of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference.
On Tuesday, January 6, The Indians hosted the Eastern Warriors in the conference’s biggest game to this point in the season, both teams coming in unbeaten at 8-0. After a furious Peebles fourth quarter rally, it was a later three-pointer by the Warriors’ Sam Ramer that proved the difference in a 71-70 Eastern win. Then on Friday, January 9, the Tribe traveled to Fayetteville and were handed a tough 63-60 loss by the host Rockets.
Many times in sports a game does not live up to the advance hype, but the match up on January 6 before an overflow crowd in Peebles certainly did. After a thrilling JV contest (won by Eastern 65-61), the varsity squads and their experienced top-notch coaches had their turn and they did not disappoint.
Peebles jumped out to an early 6-0 lead , getting two buckets from Grady Knechtly, but the Warriors bounced back to go up 9-8 on a Carter Cluxton three-point basket. A putback by big man Matthew Dick put the Warriors up 12-8, followed by a Peebles basket by Paxton Ryan and a two from Ramer left the end of the first quarter seeing a 14-10 Eastern advantage.
The Warriors maintained the lead though the early portion of the second frame with the Indians getting three-point goals from Ryan and Keegan Puckett to keep it close. Another three-ball from Ryan tied the game at 22 apiece and when Bo Johnson later hit from long distance the Tribe had regained the lead at 25-24. Another Cluxton trey put Eastern back in front, but quickly the home team went back in front on a second Johnson three-ball. Before the end of the first half, two baskets off the bench from freshman Braylen Stephens put the home team in front 32-29 at the intermission.
An early third quarter three-pointer from Ryan kept the home team on top but the Warriors jumped back in front on five quick points from Chase Pinkerton. Peebles took the lead back at 37-36 on a Ryan basket, but at that point the big run that had eluded both sides cam to fruition for the Warriors as they reeled off 12 straight to break open a close game and take a double digit lead at 48-37. A late triple from Cluxton helped Eastern hold on and lead 53-41 as the third period closed.
With the visitors holding the 12-point advantage, no one could have guessed what awaited in the final eight minutes of crazy action that resulted in the two teams combining for 47 points. The final quarter began with a Ryan three-point bomb and a Josh McClary three-point play for the Tribe, but a three-ball from Jayce Jennings kept the Warriors comfortably in front 60-47.
The margin increased to 16 on a Cluxton basket and the visitor’s lead stood at 68-55 with 4:04 left to play, but that is when the entire momentum shifted to the home side of the scoreboard as the Indians went on a rapid fire 12-0 run, scoring quick and taking advantage of uncharacteristic Eastern turnovers. The run began with McClary hitting two from the charity stripe and then the Peebles junior converted a pair of turnovers into a pair of easy scores, one of those being an old-fashioned three-point play that cut the gap to 68-62. With 1:54 left, Ryan nailed two free throws followed by a basket “and one” from Colyn Sims that drew the Tribe within one with 1:42 to go.
With 50.3 seconds on the clock, Eastern’s Pinkerton misfired on a pair of free throws and the Indians capitalized as Ryan drove the lane, scored, was fouled and hit the free toss to put the Indians up 70-68 with 16 seconds left. Eastern point guard Kayne Dotson quickly brought the ball up the right side of the court and made a hand off to Ramer. When a pair of Peebles defenders got tangled up for just a second, Ramer launched a three that found nothing but net to put the Warriors back up 71-70 with 9.9 ticks left on the clock. After a timeout, the Indians got the ball to Ryan for a game-winner, but his shot was partially blocked and landed in the hands of the Warriors, who could celebrate the thrilling and crucial one-point conference triumph.
“The end of the game, when someone has to step up, that’s why you play,” Eastern head coach Rob Beucler told GoodGuysRadioTV after the win. “We hit the big sot then defended well at the end, but we struggled with free throws and turnovers. Peebles is a hard match up for us and I think fatigue may have caught up with us in that fourth quarter.”
“People got to see a heckuva game tonight.”
The winners were led by four players in double figures, Carter Cluxton and Sam Ramer with 17 each, followed y Chase Pinkerton with 14 and Matthew Dick with 12. Point guard Kayne Dotson only scored 4 but dished out a season-high 13 assists, including one on the game-winning three by Ramer.
Peebles was paced by a 23-point effort from Paxton Ryan (including four three-point goals) with Josh McClary also reaching double figures with 17.
Perhaps it was still an emotional letdown from the frustrating defeat, but the Indians went on the road on Friday, January 8 and were handed a 63-60 loss by the host Fayetteville Rockets. The Tribe trailed at every quarter break- 22-9, 38-28, 48-43 and final the three-point final margin.
The two losses dropped the Indians to 8-2 on the season, 5-2 in conference play, now two games behind Fayetteville (6-0) in the small school division of the SHAC. Peebles was favored to snap their losing streak on Tuesday as they hosted 1-10 Ripley in conference play. On Saturday, January 17 the Tribe will be part of the Coach Young Classic at North Adams , facing Norwood in a scheduled 4 p.m. tip off.
Box Score
Eastern Brown
14 15 24 18 —71
Peebles
10 22 9 29 —70
E. Brown (71): Dotson 2 0-0 4, Pinkerton 6 1-6 14, Ramer 8 0-2 17, Vance 2 0-0 4, Dick 6 0-1 12, Cluxton 6 2-2 17, Jennings 1 0-0 3, Team 31 3-11 71.
Peebles (70): Gross 3 0-0 7, Knechtly 3 0-0 6, Ryan 8 3-3 23, McClary 6 5-6 17, Puckett 1 1-2 4, Sims 1 1-1 3, Johnson 2 0-2 6, Stephens 2 0-1 4, Team 26 10-15 70.
Three-Point Goals:
E. Brown (6): Pinkerton 1, Ramer 1, Cluxton 3, Jennings 1
Peebles (8): Gross 1, Ryan 4, Puckett 1, Johnson 1
