Fiery Dragons fly past Eagles 68-59
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Clinton’s Lebron Booker (4) and Jeremiah Lee (1) get fired up after a late game score. Booker topped all Dragons scorers with 25 points. Lee finished the night with 10. - Tony Cox
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Clinton’s Kaden Ison (34) puts the ball back up after getting an offensive rebound. The Dragons offense came together with a 9-0 run in the final minutes of the game to seal the District win against Gibbs. - Tony Cox
Nothing has come easily for the Clinton High School’s boys basketball team this season. The Dragons have endured offensive power outages at times.
On Saturday night, however, the Dragons quite possibly played their best game of the season as they notched a 68-59 District 4-AAA victory at Gibbs High School’s Jerry H. Sharp Gymnasium in Corryton. It was a much needed victory for the Dragons, according to longtime head coach Chris Lockard.
“We really needed this one. I don’t want to say that it was a must-win,” Lockard said. “But this was one that we really needed to give the kids some confidence.
“Our guys were working hard, and you need to have some wins along the way.”
Victories have been hard to come by this season for the Dragons (5-11 overall, 2-2 in the district), who came up on the short end of a heartbreaking 58-56 District 4-AAA decision against Scott at home on Tuesday, Jan. 9.
Saturday’s win could be a season changer for Clinton, which has been prone to shooting woes and offensive power outages at times this season, but on Saturday the Dragons were able to reverse their fortunes. Clinton was also able to turn the tables on the Eagles (8-11, 2-2) a bit in the fourth quarter as its defense held Gibbs to just four points, including only one field goal over the final eight minutes of the contest.
Gibbs made its final basket of the game when Chase Norman tied things, 57-57, with 7:36 remaining in the final stanza. Gibbs managed only two points the rest of the way. The Eagles scored their final points of the frame when Zack Turner that knotted the game, 59-59, with 2:54 to go.
“We really played good defense in the fourth quarter and it was nice to hold them to just four points in the fourth quarter,” Lockard said. “They have shooters all over the place and they like to play wide open, especially over there.
“We also made our free throws in the fourth quarter. We had our chance to win against Scott County. They didn’t make their free throws late, and that gave us a chance to win the game, but we didn’t make any.”
The Dragons finished the game in Corryton with a flourish as they closed out the game with a 9-0 run down the stretch. Clinton made 9-of-16 free throw attempts in the final stanza, a shaky percentage.
But CHS’s defense was particularly stingy as it forced the Eagles into multiple turnovers down the stretch and Gibbs shot only two foul shots over the last eight minutes.
Both teams were missing key players due to injury and illness as the Dragon were without Bryson Maddox and Teegan Bolinger while the Eagles were without starting forward Kamen Shown.
“We were both missing key guys,” Lockard said.
But LeBron Booker, Carson Richardson and Jeremiah Lee picked up the offensive slack.
Booker scored 25 points, including 20 after halftime. Richardson added 16 points and Lee finished with 10.
Turner scored 19 points to lead the Eagles, who got off to a fast start, opening a 15-4 lead in the first quarter.
Clinton was slated to return to action Tuesday against Cumberland Gap.
The Dragons host rival Anderson County Friday night. They’ll look to avenge an earlier loss to the Mavericks (12-7, 4-0) who held first place in the league standings entering the week.