Going to STATE!

After winning sectional, ‘Three more games to go’

March 9, 2022 by Richard Evans

Following Clinton’s 78-74 win over Volunteer High Monday night, the message from Dragons head Coach Chris Lockard was simple:

“Three more games to go,” he said in a voice choked with emotion, while standing on a ladder as he cut down the net from one of the goals.

The Dragons are headed to the state tournament after a win in the sectional round and rolling undefeated through the Region 2 AAA tournament.

Monday night’s game was historic in more ways than one. Not only will Clinton make its first appearance in the state tournament in 18 years, senior Jackson Garner scored his 2,000th career point in the win over Volunteer.

Garner also scored a game-high 45 points.

Both teams came out firing to open the game. Jeremiah Blauvelt opened scoring for the Dragons with a 3-pointer. Garner scored a basket and added a 3-pointer, while Rishon Bright added five points in the quarter to help give Clinton a 13-11 lead after one quarter of play.

The Dragons opened the second quarter on an 11-2 run to go up 24-13. Another Blauvelt 3-pointer put Clinton up 28-15 with 4:16 left in the first half. And though it looked like the Dragons might blow the game wide open, the Falcons refused to go away. A 3-pointer by Garner late in the half gave Clinton a 31-20 at the midway break.

In the third quarter, the Dragons dropped in four 3-pointers - one by Blauvelt, one by Lane Harrison, and two by Garner, his second trey giving him his 2,000th point. Despite the scoring by Clinton, Volunteer hit three 3-pointers of their own to make it 54-42 in favor of the Dragons after three quarters.

The Falcons came out firing up 3-pointers and using a press defense in the fourth quarter. Volunteer had six treys in the quarter and forced several turnovers as they chipped away at the Clinton lead. With 5:30 left in the game, Garner scored the Dragons’ last field goal of the game. All of their points the rest of the way came from the free throw line as the Falcons fouled often. In all, the Dragons scored 22 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter. Garner made 14 of those free throws.

“The boys really dug in early. Coming out in the fourth quarter I really wanted us to make a push offensively and we did but they answered us. I think that says a lot about Volunteer and how resilient they are. They just kept banging threes,” said Lockard.

“We did an excellent job on the free throw line late. Jack has scored for us so many times. Jackson knows where to be late. Thack [Thackerson], Rishon [Bright], and Lane [Harrison] kept finding him,” Lockard said.

“He’s about a 90 percent free throw shooter, if not better and that’s just good basketball. I thought we did a good job in spacing and getting it to him,” he said.

“Goal four was to win the sectional. Goal five is to win the next tournament. I was shocked at how focused they still looked. I mean, we’re going to the state tournament. We’re one of the last eight teams left. So many kids and teams don’t get that opportunity and they’re still focused on goal number five,” Lockard said.

“I can’t say enough how much we appreciate the support of our fans. This is special,” he said.

Clinton (28-4) will face Jackson South Side (23-3) next Wednesday (March 16) at 10 a.m. CST.

VHS 11 9 22 30 74

CHS 13 18 23 24 78

Volunteer - Bradin Minton (19), Garrison Barrett (15), Joltin Harrison (14), Andrew Knittel (10), Jon Wes Lovelace (5), Elijah Rodgers (3), Cason Christian (2)

CHS - Jackson Garner (45), Rishon Bright (13), Jeremiah Blauvelt (9), Trace Thackerson (8), Lane Harrison (3)

In the region semifinals last Tuesday, the Dragons beat Scott 72-57, their third win over the Highlanders this season.

Clinton opened the game on a 13-1 run as Garner, Bright, Thackerson, and Blauvelt scored for the Dragons. Clinton led 15-7 after the first quarter.

The second quarter was more of the same as the Dragons opened on a 12-2 run thanks to scoring from Bright, Blauvelt, Thackerson, and Harrison, who brought down the house with a dunk after a steal in which he went the full length of the court. Clinton led 37-20 at the half.

The Highlanders refused to go away, paced by the 3-point shooting of Mr. Basketball candidate Trey Morrow. Scott cut the Clinton lead to 14 points until Hunter Rupert sank a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 17 at 49-32. The Highlanders continued to fight and cut the Dragons advantage to 55-43 with a little over a minute remaining in the third quarter. Garner scored at the buzzer to give Clinton a 57-43 lead at the end of the third quarter.

The Dragons held the Highlanders to just 14 points in the fourth quarter to advance to the championship game against Halls.

“Scott is so good, with so many guys who can hurt you. I thought defensively we were pretty doggone good. Morrow had nine at the half and that’s a pretty good defensive effort,” Lockard said.

“We knew they were going to try to slow down Jack [Garner] and Thack (Thackerson) and I don’t blame them. Rishon is so quick off the bounce you have to back off a little bit and that little jumper he’s been working on really went down tonight,” he said.

Bright led the Dragons with 22 points. Garner had 17 points while Blauvelt added 12 and Thackerson 10.

Morrow led all scorers with 26 points.

Scott 7 13 23 14 57

CHS 15 22 20 15 72

Scott - Trey Morrow (26), Scott Jeffers (13), Grey Todd (7), Dalton Prewitt (5), Kayleb Woodward (4), Braydon Brumett (2)

CHS - Rishon Bright (22), Jackson Garner (17), Jeremiah Blauvelt (12), Trace Thackerson (10), Lane Harrison (4), Hunter Rupert (3), Dodi Truss (2), Tyler Morgan (2)

On Thursday, Clinton defeated Halls 56-47 to win the region championship, their fourth win over the Red Devils this season.

Both teams played with intensity from start to finish.

The first quarter went back and forth but Halls closed out the first quarter on a 9-2 run. Clinton led 18-17 after one quarter of play.

Scoring cooled for both teams in the second quarter, but especially for the Dragons as the Red Devils outscored them 11-5 to take a 28-23 halftime lead.

Bright, Harrison, Garner, and Thackerson scored for Clinton in the third as the lead shifted five times. A 3-pointer by Harrison with 18 seconds left in the third quarter gave the Dragons the lead they did not relinquish. Bright nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that extended the Dragon’s lead to 41-37.

Clinton milked the clock in the fourth quarter, forcing Halls to foul. The Dragons made 13 free throws in the final eight minutes to blunt the attempted rally by the Red Devils.

For the game, Clinton was 20-26 from the free throw line and had 37 rebounds to 20 for Halls.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well but thank goodness for Rishon Bright. I don’t know how many rebounds he had but it was a bunch,” Lockard said. “I had to play him a little longer than I wanted to tonight but he was in the groove.

“I think it was a great opportunity for us to get hit in the mouth and respond,” he added.

Bright led all scorers with 23 points and was named MVP of the region tournament. He also had 11 rebounds - 10 on the offensive end of the floor. Garner added 15 points in the win. He was named to the All-Region team along with Lane Harrison, Trace Thackerson, and Jeremiah Blauvelt.

Halls 17 11 9 10 47

CHS 18 5 18 15 56

Halls - Caleb Shaffer (11), Luke Simpson (11), Bennett Lane (9), Simon Williams (6), Jake Lane (5), Cassen Rogers (3), Kaiden Stanton (2)

CHS - Rishon Bright (23), Jackson Garner (15), Lane Harrison (9), Trace Thackerson (6), Tyler Morgan (2), Jeremiah Blauvelt (1)