Powerful offense lifts Eagles over Horses

The Clinton boys’ basketball team opened their season Monday night against the East Bladen Eagles, debuting their new coach, Michael Boykin. Ball control and unforced errors led to a home loss for the Dark Horses, though, as the Eagles emerged victorious with a 56-36 win.

Clinton won the opening tipoff, which led to an early layup from Jabari Daughtry, as they looked to set the tone early. The full-court defense was also in effect for the Dark Horses.

Daughtry scored again for Clinton, grabbing the first four points of the game in almost the exact same spot for each shot. East Bladen tried to run their offense from the three-point line to give themselves open looks from deep at the other end, but they were unsuccessful on their first few attempts before getting a layup in the low block.

Amir Wright fed the ball to an awaiting Henry Bass deep in the key, and he gave Clinton the 6-2 lead early.

The Eagles quickly moved their offense into the paint, with backdoor cuts and layups netting them multiple opportunities. They tied the game at six because of them, as things progress towards the end of the first.

Clinton set up a traditional motion offense, which led to an open lane for Ivey Sampson to drive and score after a powerful hop step to the basket. 8-6 Clinton led, with 3:12 remaining in the opening period.

It was the Jabari Daughtry show early, as he started pouring on the points, giving Clinton the 11-8 lead from free throws and layups on his own during the Horses’ 5-2 run.

A set of fouls were called on Clinton, first a shooting foul, then a foul from Bass on the free throw rebound attempt, and by the end of things, East Bladen had now found themselves on top, 14-11 as the quarter ended.

The Eagles opened up the second quarter with a three point shot, which opened their lead onto 17-12.

East Bladen’s powerful front court started their dominance, cleaning up rebounds and scoring seemingly when they wanted to. They jumped out to a 20-12 lead with just under six minutes to go in the second, as Clinton started to struggle offensively.

That is, until Bass scored on a layup at the 5:16 mark, which was followed up by a three from Daughtry. And just like that, Clinton had narrowed the margin to 20-17.

Things spread back out for the Eagles, where they jumped out to a 24-17 advantage. Daughtry hit a three to stop things from progressing further, which brought them back to within four. The scoring went stagnant as the teams traded possessions off missed shots and turnovers, before East Bladen sank a free throw, courtesy of a foul, at 2:32. The score was still in their favor at 25-20.

Clinton got a pair of foul shots of their own from Taylen Moore, who sank both to make it 25-22 with under two minutes to play in the half. The Eagles’ size advantage lead to them winning the rebound battle up all night, as big man Javant McDowell was cleaning the glass over top of the Horses at will.

As the teams broke for half, East Bladen had a 30-22 lead over the Horses.

Clinton came into the second half with a full court press defense, trying to force turns overs from the Eagles. East Bladen found themselves in early foul trouble, as they were assessed three fouls just four minutes into the third.

Moore went 1-for-2 from the stripe with just under five minutes left in the third, which cut the lead to 34-23. Another free throw after another trip to the line netted him and the Horses one more in the scoring drought for both teams, and Bass added another on one of his free throws.

The points were starting to add up for Clinton as Daughtry made a floater through the middle of the paint and Moore blocked an East Bladen shot at the other end. With three minutes to go in the period, Clinton was on a 5-4 run, but the Eagles hadn’t scored in several minutes. It was 34-27.

Fouls were starting to pile up for the Horses, too, as Moore recorded his fourth which was also the team’s fourth. After the team’s fifth foul, coach Michael Boykin was given a warning the referee for contesting the call.

Easy Bladen’s Tayshaun Berkeley picked up his fourth foul with 47.6 to go in the third after hard contact with Jonah on a layup. Boone was injured on the play and Chan Johnson had to shoot his free throws. He also went 1-for-2, which made it a 37-30 game as it moved closer to the closing quarter.

As the third quarter came to a close, it was still a low scoring affair on both sides as East Bladen led 40-30.

The teams traded points down the backstretch, but the Horses couldn’t climb out of their deficit, as East Bladen took the win, 56-36.

Head coach Michael Boykin, who was a standout player for the Horses in high school, and who comes from a long line of basketball players, showed optimism for the rest of Clinton’s season.

“There’s nothing that can’t be fixed,” Boykin said after the game. “We can go to practice and fix those minor problems.”

Clinton fell to 0-1 and they host East Duplin next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.