Pineville found some of the consistency they’ve been looking for when the team traveled to Ewing, Virginia to play Thomas Walker on Thursday. The Mountain Lions grabbed a lead in the first quarter and maintained a slight cushion on their way to a 69-54 victory over the Pioneers.

Thomas Walker surged in the third quarter cutting the lead to as little as six before Pineville seized full control of the game in the fourth to claim the 15-point win. The Lions avenged an earlier season loss to the Pioneers and also claimed their largest victory of the season.

Clay Goodin and Josh Lawson put together an explosive offensive attack with both players nearly reaching the 20-point mark. Goodin finished with a game-high 19 points while hitting both of his free throws. Lawson wasn’t far behind scoring 18 points while going 4-for-5 from the charity stripe.

Ben Goodin and Braxton Caldwell both finished in double digits as well. Goodin chipped in 13 points while Caldwell added 10 points to the final tally.

Caleb Yeary led Thomas Walker with 13 points. Taylor Williams added nine points for the Pioneers, and Matt Barber scored eight points off the bench.

The two teams went back-and-forth early with Thomas Walker pulling away to a 6-2 lead. Pineville used a 9-0 run near the end of the first to grab an 11-8 lead with Lawson’s pull-up jumper capping the run.

Williams was fouled on a 3-pointer with 52.6 seconds remaining and hit two of his three attempts to narrow the lead to 13-10 heading into the second quarter.

A pair of 3-pointers by Barber helped cut the lead to 17-16, but a 14-0 run by the Mountain Lions created an 15-point cushion. During that stretch, Marcus Estep hit a layup, Lawson nailed a jumper from the free-throw line and Ben Goodin hit a trio of free throws to give Pineville a 24-16 lead with 4:34 remaining in the half.

The Lions capped the run with consecutive baskets from Ben Goodin and Caldwell to balloon the margin to 31-16.

The Pioneers staged their own 8-0 run down the stretch to narrow the halftime deficit to 32-24.

The two teams drew even in the third quarter with both scoring 18 points apiece with Pineville taking a 50-42 lead into the final quarter.

The Mountain Lions used a 6-0 run early in the fourth to create a double-digit lead, 61-46, with Clay Goodin chipping in five points. Thomas Walker didn’t have an answer down the stretch with Pineville walking away with a 15-point road victory.

Up Next

Pineville (4-9) hosted Knox Central on Friday before traveling to Lynn Camp (10-1) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

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Pineville 69, Thomas Walker 54

PINEVILLE (4-9)

Clay Goodin 7 2-2 19, Josh Lawson 7 4-5 18, Braxton Caldwell 2 4-6 10, Ben Goodin 3 7-9 13, Landon Couch 1 1-2 3, Hayden Callebs 0 2-2 2, Marcus Estep 1 0-1 2, Chris Saylor 1 0-0 2. Totals: 22 20-27 69.

THOMAS WALKER

Caleb Yeary 6 0-0 13, Christian Bledsoe 3 0-0 6, Taylor Williams 2 4-7 9, Tucker Barton 4 0-2 10, Kaleb Sharrett 2 0-0 4, Alex Williams 1 1-2 4, Matt Barber 3 0-0 8. Totals: 21 5-11 54.

Pineville 13 19 18 19 — 69

Thomas Walker 10 14 18 12 — 54

3-point goals: Pineville 5 (Goodin 3, Caldwell 2), Thomas Walker 7 (Yeary 1, T. Williams 1, A. Williams 1, Barber 2, Barton 2).

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