The Clinton Dark Horses were back in action on Friday night, hosting the Pender Patriots one night after picking up a huge one-point win at West Bladen to take sole possession of first place in the Four County Conference. Clinton was a tad slow coming out of the gate, but the Dark Horses settled in and recovered nicely, as they went on to win the game 76-52.
Clinton struck first as Kris Williams converted a three-point play off the opening tip on a fast break layup attempt. Pender, however, answered back, using a 10-3 run to take a 10-6 lead. Not to be outdone, the Dark Horses came right back, answering with a 13-2 run of their own to take a 19-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Clinton built on that lead throughout the second quarter as the Horses took advantage of a solid scoring performance by J.J. Robertson and Dewan Lesane. At the conclusion of the second quarter, Clinton had established a 32-23 lead over the Patriots.
Picking up where they left off, Clinton used a combined team effort to add even more separation between themselves and Pender in the third quarter. Six different players scored for the Dark Horses as they increased their lead to 56-35 at the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, it was Lesane once again coming up big for the Dark Horses. Five different players contributed points throughout the fourth quarter, but Lesane led the way with eight to help Clinton maintain its 20-point margin as the Dark Horses went on to secure the win 76-52.
Leading scorers for Clinton were Lesane with a team-high 20 points and Robertson with 15. Also getting into the score column for the Dark Horses were Jeremiah Pope with 13, Williams with 11, and Malik Gause and Tyion Wright each adding five points. Rounding out the scoring for Clinton was Ryheem Skinner with three and Austin Fussell with two.
After the game, Clinton head coach Randy Jordan commented on his team’s solid play and also reflected back to Thursday night’s big win against West Bladen.
“We played well from start to finish,” Jordan said Friday. “(Thursday) night we did not, but I believe we learned from that. Our intensity and focus was really good at both ends, especially on defense. These guys know that they can play defense and we’re getting better as we go and continue to work on the little things that will make us better as we move closer to conference and state tournaments.”
Regarding the game at West Bladen, Jordan elaborated that tough play is the name of the game in the Four County Conference and that gritty games like Thursday’s are beneficial.
“Thursday was a tale of two halves. We came out in the first quarter and played just about as well as we have all year on both ends. We were in control of the tempo at that point. While we did not score as much in the second period, our defense was excellent. Anytime you hold a team to 15 points in a half you have done a really good job,” Jordan said. “In the second half our defense was again really good, only allowing 36 points, but be struggled offensively. We could not get back into a flow, but credit some of that to West Bladen’s defense and some to our lack of movement with the ball and going a little too much one-on-one.”
In the end, the coach said, the team made the plays down the stretch in Thursday’s game to get a gritty win.
“Mike Kramer and Jeremiah Pope both hit big baskets in the last minute and I give Tyion Wright all the credit for displaying great closing speed and coming up with the game saving blocked shot with two seconds left,” the coach said. “We needed a game like this. The second time around in the conference will be tough. This a good league so we know we have our work cut out for us.”
Leading scorers for Clinton on Thursday were Robertson with 18 points, Lesane with 10 and Kris Williams with nine. With the back-to-back wins, Clinton improves to 15-2 overall and 8-0 in the Four County Conference. With the loss, Pender falls to 7-9 overall and 3-4 in the conference.
Next up, the Dark Horses will host East Bladen on Wednesday before traveling to Spivey’s Corner to take on Midway on Friday. For Pender, they return home to host Midway on Tuesday.