Dragons spread the floor and play epic defense against Halls
Clinton’s Teegan Bollinger had “a solid game” in the back court for the Dragons to help propel them to Tuesday’s championship game. (photo:Ken Leinart )
The Dragons, however, captured their biggest win of the season at home Friday night.
And it couldn’t have come at a more-opportune time as they upset top-seeded Knoxville Halls 44-41 in the semifinals of the District 4-AAA Tournament before a spirited house at the Don W. Lockard Gymnasium.
The Dragons, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, won just their ninth game of the season, but the victory notched Clinton a spot in the tournament championship game against No. 3 Anderson County. Results were not available at press time but the Mavericks topped No. 2 Scott 46-39 in Thursday night’s other boys semifinals.
The Dragons and Anderson County have each earned home games in the upcoming Region 2-AAA Tournament, which opens Saturday night.
Clinton and Halls staged an epic defensive battle Friday night, and the Red Devils (16-12) missed a pair of potential game-tying shots in the waning seconds.
“I thought we did a good job defensively,” CHS Coach Chris Lockard said. “We did a good job with our defensive rebounding.”
The Dragons also virtually stifled district player of the year Caleb Shaffer, one of the area’s top three-point shooters, holding him to just seven points.
Clinton (9-20) also kept Chandler Gamble in check on the boards.
“I think we did a good job on Shaffer; we held him to seven points,” Lockard said. “We did a good job on the boards and we kept Gamble off of them and they only had five three-pointers in the game. That was big because they really like to shoot threes.”
The Dragons successfully slowed the tempo of the contest as they held the ball on offense and had solid performances from Lebron Booker and Teegan Bolinger in the back court.
“We wanted to keep the score down and that played into our favor,” Lockard said. “We had Teegan run the point at first, and they were getting pressure on home, then Lebron came in and did really well.
“Teegan and Lebron both did a good job running our offense tonight.”
Booker led all scorers with 18 points and Jeremiah added 10, while Bolinger finished with eight for the Dragons, who overcame a slim 24-23 halftime deficit. The game was tied 15-15 at the end of the first quarter. ThenClinton opened the second frame on a 5-0 run and took a 20-15 lead when Booker knocked down a long-range jumper with 6 minutes, 11 seconds remaining until halftime.
The Red Devils would rally to take a 24-23 lead at the break as Jake Lane hit a shot as time expired in the second frame.
The rollercoaster ride continued in the third quarter, but the Dragons held a 34-31 lead heading into the fourth quarter, thanks in part to a pair of free throws by Bolinger with 4.8 seconds left in the third stanza.
Clinton retained the upper hand and never trailed over the final eight minutes.
The Dragons led by as many as six points down the stretch, extending their advantage to 40-34 with just over six minutes to play.
Halls trimmed the Dragons’ lead to 40-39 after Lane converted a pair of free throws with 3:20 to go.
The Red Devils hung around despite being held without a field goal over the final 5:05 of the contest.