Clinton played host to Wilmington Ashley in the finale of the Dark Horse Holiday Classic on Wednesday evening. The matchup had the makings of very good contest, pitting Clinton’s speedy athletes against Ashley’s size. Unfortunately for Ashley, someone forgot to tell Clinton this was expected to be a close game. The Dark Horses stormed out of the gates and steadily built on their lead, totally dominating the Screaming Eagles to take the tourney crown with an 88-60 win.

Clinton set the tone early, forcing three Ashley turnovers before the Eagles got off their first shot. The Dark Horses capitalized on each Eagle miscue, running out to a 29-17 first quarter lead on the back of hot shooting from Jeremiah Pope who scored 14 of his game-high 22 points in the first frame.

The Dark Horses didn’t let up in the second quarter, extending their lead to 53-32 at the half behind strong play from Kris Williams, Tyion Wright and JJ Robertson.

Ashley improved their defensive efforts in the second half, slowing the Clinton onslaught somewhat, but each time the Eagles would inch closer the Dark Horses would answer with a barrage of baskets to regain the momentum. By the end of the third quarter, the Dark Horse lead had grown to 28 at 76-48, and any hopes of an Eagle comeback had been dashed.

Clinton cleared their bench late in the fourth quarter, getting everyone in the game while managing to maintain their large lead. As the clock expired, the Horses began to celebrate their 88-60 win and look forward to getting into the meat of their conference schedule.

After the game tournament MVP Robertson talked about the intensity the Dark Horses brought to the contest with Ashley.

“We were excited to get started tonight,” Robertson said. “We heard that they (Ashley) were saying they were better than us, so we had something to prove.”

Pope talked about the fast start and the key to his performance, adding, “we wanted to get off to a better start tonight. I missed my first couple of shots last night so I used my pre-game warmup to try and get into a groove. I had to let the game come to me instead of forcing up shots and that made a big difference.”

Williams also felt that the fast start was the key to the Dark Horses’ success.

“We came out and started the game tonight like we should have last night,” the junior point guard said. “We had something to prove and our pressure really got to them early. You could tell they were a little rattled by our defense and we just took advantage of them.”

The Dark Horses put four players in double figures led by Pope’s 22. Robertson added 21, Williams pitched in 17 and Dewan Lesane had 10 points. Ashley was paced by Altavon Mack with 19 points. Jordan Gagum and Jiques Morant each had 12 points for the Eagles.

Clinton head coach Randy Jordan praised his team’s performance, saying “we told the guys we needed to use this game to test ourselves. I was really pleased with our defensive play the whole game and offensively we could not have played much better. We were able to widen our lead in the second half and get everyone in the game. We shared the ball really well and this was a lot of fun.”

Ashley head coach Webster Guthrie was much more subdued but had nothing but praise for the Dark Horse performance.

“Clinton is very athletic and they shot the ball really well tonight, probably above 60 percent in the first half,” Guthrie said. “When they shoot the ball that way they are going to be hard to beat. We played better defense in the second half, but they hit us in mouth early and we got in a hole we could not fight our way out of.”

The Dark Horses are riding a seven-game win streak that has run their record to 9-2 overall and 2-0 in conference play. Clinton will play host to Midway next Tuesday. The Clinton JV team also defeated the Ashley JV game in the championship round by the score of 69-50.

Clinton’s Tyion Wright lays in a second quarter basket against Ashley on Wednesday night.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CHS-1-4.jpgClinton’s Tyion Wright lays in a second quarter basket against Ashley on Wednesday night. Mike Carter|Sampson Independent

Clinton’s Jeremiah Pope rises to slam two of his game-high 22 points in Wednesday’s win over Ashley.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_CHS-2-1.jpgClinton’s Jeremiah Pope rises to slam two of his game-high 22 points in Wednesday’s win over Ashley. Mike Carter|Sampson Independent
Clinton crowned Holiday Classic champs; win streak extends to seven

By Mike Carter

Sports Writer