Dragons earn season split with Mavericks
The Clinton Dragons earned a regular season split with a 65-57 win at Anderson County on Friday night.
The Dragons took an 11-7 lead in the first quarter on the strength of scoring by Evan Winchester, Trevon Hill, and Luke Harrison. Landon Miller, Spencer Chandler, and Grant Hayes answered for the Mavericks to keep them close.
Clinton led by as many as eight points and for almost all of the second quarter. Anderson County chipped away at the lead and closed out the half on a modest 7-2 run. A 3-pointer by Chandler with 1.6 seconds left in the half gave the Mavericks a 27-26 halftime lead.
Anderson County opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run and looked to be taking control of the game.
It was then that Daraon Jones showed up for the Dragons. He knocked down three 3-pointers and converted two traditional three-point plays as part of a 25-point explosion for Clinton in the quarter.
The Dragons carried a 51-44 lead into the fourth quarter.
For every point scored by the Mavericks in the closing minutes, Clinton had an answer and held on for the win.
For the game, the Dragons shot 51 percent from the floor compared to 35 percent for the Mavericks.
Clinton also outscored Anderson County 34-18 in the paint.
“In the third quarter, Daraon [Jones] decided to play and he was pretty doggone clutch and we couldn’t buy a basket. At Clinton, Jordan [Hembree] hit three 3’s, Marquise [Gallahar] hit three 3’s, Harrison [Ogburn] hit four and none of them hit a three tonight. It would have been a much bigger deficit for us if Spencer [Chandler] hadn’t taken over,” said Derek Wallace, head coach of the Mavericks.
Suffering from the flu himself, he said his team was not very healthy.
“Give Clinton credit. We found a way to take the lead at halftime and even came out on fire in the third quarter and they just executed and won the game,” Wallace said.
“I’ve been preaching to these guys about blood and gut games, about being able to get to that loose ball, make that one rebound, or make that one play. I feel like we do that from time to time but we don’t maintain that effort. We struggled at the free throw line again but we had a 10-12 point lead so it didn’t cost us the game the it did we played them at Clinton,” said Chris Lockard, head coach of the Dragons.
“I was really pleased with our scheme. We’re really trying to fine-tune what we’re doing defensively. Maybe we’re getting there. We’ve put ourselves in a hard situation in the district race and we’re going to have to win some ball games late [in the season] but this is a team I have a lot of confidence in. I don’t think we’ve hit our stride yet,” he said.
Chandler led all scorers with 24 points. Miller added 12 points and Hayes had 10 for the Mavericks.
Harrison paced the Dragons with 15 points - one of five Clinton players in double-figures. Hill and Jones finished with 13 points each while Winchester and Lockard each scored 11 points.
The Mavericks host Oak Ridge on Friday and Powell on Tuesday. They visit Knox Central on Wednesday (Jan. 31) to play the game rescheduled from Jan. 16 due to weather.
Tip-off for each game is 7:30 p.m.
CHS 11 15 25 14 65
AC 7 20 17 13 57
CHS — Luke Harrison (15), Daraon Jones (13), Trevon Hill (13), Evan Winchester (11), Chase Lockard (11), Trace Wandell (2)
AC — Spencer Chandler (24), Landon Miller (12), Grant Hayes (10), Logan Berry (4), Braden Irwin (4), Marquise Gallahar (3)
The Dragons beat Gibbs on the road Monday night by a score of 68-46.
Clinton opened a 20-10 lead in the first quarter as Winchester, Hill, Jones, Harrison, and Lockard scored for the Dragons.
Clinton added to its lead in the second quarter as Winchester, Hill, Harrison, and Jones dropped in the points to give the Dragons a 39-21 halftime lead.
Trevor Bryant, Andrew Shoopman, and Trace Wandell joined in the scoring for the Dragons in the third quarter as they carried a 58-40 lead into the final quarter.
Clinton held the Eagles to just six points in the fourth quarter as Demarcus McKamey got into the scoring column for the Dragons.
Hill led all scorers with 17 points. Winchester had 14 and Harrison finished with 11 points.
The Dragons will host Knox Central on Friday and travel to Halls on Tuesday. They will host Campbell County on Wednesday. The game was rescheduled from Jan. 16 due to weather.
Tip-off for each game is 7:30 p.m.
CHS 20 19 19 10 68
Gibbs 10 11 19 6 46
CHS — Trevon Hill (17), Evan Winchester (14), Luke Harrison (11), Trevor Bryant (8), Daraon Jones (5), Chase Lockard (5), Trace Wandell (5), Demarcus McKamey (2), Andrew Shoopman (1)
Gibbs — Dawson Warwick (14), Shawn Pack (9), Jadin Heggs (7), Javey Williams (7), Keagan Katz (2)
