Matt McKinney was a one-man wrecking crew last night.

The Neshannock High senior sharpshooter drained four 3-pointers in five attempts in the first half to lift the Lancers to a 87-45 nonsection road win over Ford City.

“I thought for the lengthy trip here, we came out and played pretty well,” Neshannock coach John Corey said. “Matt McKinney had a great first half, but besides him, we didn’t shoot well.”

The Lancers (6-1), McKinney included, managed just 29 percent shooting in the first half and managed to take a 35-23 lead into halftime.

Neshannock found its shooting touch in the second half, outscoring Ford City (4-4) by 30 points.

“If shots were falling better in the first half, we go into the half up by 20,” Corey said. “We sped up the game in the second half. They were in a zone for the entire game, but it just took us a while to get a feel for it. After that, we picked up the pace and started pressing. The key was picking up the pressure. If you’re making shots, it’s easier to get up in people’s faces and pressure them.”

McKinney had 20 points on the night, but wrecked his chances of scoring more by getting foul trouble for the final three quarters.

“He was his own worst enemy,” Corey said. “He got his third foul around the five-minute mark in the second quarter. All three were cheap. I think they were all reaching fouls. He needs to be smarter than that.”

Senior Ernie Burkes knocked down three 3-pointers to pace the Lancers with a game-high 21 points, while Ty Haswell chipped in 10 points and six rebounds. Ethan Moose added 14.

“I’m not sure what they knew about us,” Corey said. “There’s a good distance between us and it’s a nonsection game. I think that had a lot to do with the unfamiliarity between us. We had a good scouting report on them and we felt we were well-prepared. We knew they would play a zone and eventually, they had to come out of it with how productive we were against it.

“The zone makes it tough to be productive inside. I thought we could’ve used the post players a little better. Ty hit double digits. It was a good overall effort for him and collectively for the team.”

Corey likes where his team is as it enters the Christmas break.

“We have two days off,” he said. “That’s our Christmas present. We have certain standards we have to play up to. With a good group of varsity basketball players, we need to make sure we’re getting better. I think for the most part, we’ve done that. We have two games over Christmas break and then the rest of the section. We start the new year with two away games with New Brighton and Beaver Falls. To become a better basketball team, we need to make sure we’re prepared for section play as we come out of Christmas vacation.”