Dragons get big downtown send-off on way to state tourney
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The Clinton Dragons basketball team and cheerleaders pose for their supporters on the steps of the Anderson County Courthouse on Monday before reboarding their bus for the trip to the state basketball tournament in Murfreesboro. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Clinton High School band members play in front of the Anderson County Courthouse on Monday to celebrate the Dragons’ boys basketball team leaving for the state tournament. - G. Chambers Williams III
Clinton Dragons supporters lined Main Street on Monday morning to give their boys’ basketball team a big send-off as the team began its journey to the state tournament in Murfreesboro.
The Dragons, who already won their division and regional championships, beat Volunteer High in sectional play last week to advance to the state.
Their opening game in the state tournament will be at 11 a.m. Eastern time today (Wednesday, March 16), at the Murphy Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.
Clinton (28-4) will play Jackson South Side (20-7) in the first round.
Monday morning, fans began arriving for the public send-off around 11 a.m. in front of the Anderson County Courthouse and Hoskin’s Drug, with some of the school’s band members on hand to play on the walkway out front.
Around noon, Clinton police and other emergency services escorted the team bus up Main Street from Market, where the bus then made a right turn onto Leinert Street and stopped.
The players got off and walked the half-block to the front of the courthouse, greeted and cheered by several hundred supports.
They posed for photos and videos on the courthouse steps before returning to the bus for the trip to Murfreesboro.
Across the street in front of Hoskin’s, boosters were selling Dragons’ shirts and other memorabilia for the fans.
If the Dragons win their opening game today, they will advance to the semifinal round Friday against either Fulton or Fayette-Ware, whichever team wins its first-round game today.