Raider boys notch third win versus Clinton

The first round of the Southeastern Athletic Conference tournament got underway Monday night. Up at Midway High School, rivals Midway and Clinton were pitted against each other for the third time this season, seeing who would move on to face off against Fairmont in the second round. Having already swept the Dark Horses in the regular season, the Raiders were looking for the trifecta on Monday. Indeed, the Raiders claimed an emphatic win, opening an early lead that they never relinquished, getting a 67-45 victory.

Clinton won the opening tip and settled in to do work. They got a couple of looks at the goal, but their first possession yielded no point, and Midway had control. They quickly drew a couple of fouls against the Dark Horses before Ke’Mari McNeill got the Raiders on the board with a 3. After Clinton with a layup, Travis Gist converted a 3-point play down on Midway’s end, then got a steal and layup to make it 8-2 at the 6:21 mark. This prompted a timeout from Clinton, who was looking to make a quick adjustment. It was the Gist and McNeill show early in the game as the two combined for 13 points to give Midway a 13-2 lead. Free throws were the Achilles heel of the Dark Horses early as they missed six straight and were stone-cold elsewhere on the court. Midway, though, was hot as their lead reached 18-2 on a Wyatt Herring 3-pointer. Henry Bass finally answered for Clinton with a layup, but the Dark Horses still found themselves trailing 22-4 at the 1:30 mark. At the end of the first quarter, the Raiders’ lead was 22-6.

A pair of jumpers from Gist at the beginning of the second quarter put the Midway lead up to 26-6. Their lead settled in around the 20-23 point range as the offenses traded jabs. With 51.0 left before the half, Raiders big man Anthony Graham hit the deck hard on a rebound and was down for an extended amount of time. He eventually stood up and was able to walk off with assistance, going straight to the locker room. When the horn sounded at halftime, Midway held a firm lead of 36-10.

Before the second half started, Gist was on the line for a pair of technical foul shots, sinking both to make it 38-10. Both teams struggled early in the second half, but Clinton’s shooting woes were proving detrimental. Their deficit reached 30 points on a couple of occasions but at the end of the third quarter, the Raiders led 49-22.

Midway began working in their reserve players as the fourth quarter progressed. Simultaneously, shots for the Dark Horses began falling and this allowed Clinton to hit a little spurt. Still, the damage had long been done and the amount of points they earned back was nowhere near enough to pose a valid threat. In fact, the Raiders second-stringers were productive to a degree and weren’t completely shut out. When the final horn sounded, Midway completed the trio of wins this season, winning 67-45.

Leading scorers for Midway were McNeill with 17 and Gist with 16. Walker Holmes had seven points. Other Raider scorers were Everett Jackson with five, Landon Hammond and Alex Parker each had four points, and Herring and Carson Tew had three points each. Colin Woods, Tanner Williams, and Camden Wilson all had two points and Johnny Locklear had one point.

For Clinton, Garrison Hill had 12 points and Henry Bass had 10. Jabari Daughtry had nine points, Anyahs Butler had eight points, Taylen Moore had three points, Zy Wallace had two points, and Amir Wright had one point.

With the win, Midway is 16-5 overall and advances to the second round of the conference tournament against Fairmont. That game is slated for Wednesday.

For Clinton, they likely concluded their season on Monday, finishing at 4-20 overall.

After the game, there was a brief ceremony honoring Midway head coach Matthew Creech, who won his 100th game on Friday.