Eight straight: Dragons back in district final
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Clinton’s Eli Slaven (14) drives to the basket against Gibbs during Friday night’s District 4-AAA tournament opener. Slaven poured in 20 points as the top-seeded Dragons began postseason play. - Ellie Hatmaker
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Cam Anderson (22) takes a short jumper over Gibbs’ de- fense during Clinton’s District 4-AAA tournament opener. The Dragons rolled past the Eagles 60-40 to advance to the championship game against Scott. - Ellie Hatmaker
For the eighth-consecutive season, the Clinton High School boys basketball team was set to play in a district tournament championship game.
The Dragons, the top seed in the District 4-AAA tournament, faced No. 3 seed Scott Tuesday night at Anderson County High School. Results were not available at press time.
Clinton (26-7) earned its spot in the 2026 title game with a 62-40 victory over Gibbs in Friday night’s semifinals at ACHS.
“This is the eighth straight year that we’ve been in the district championship game,” longtime Dragons Coach Chris Lockard said. “Maybe now, we can win one.”
Clinton has dropped the past three district title games to crosstown rival Anderson County, but the Mavericks fell 66-65 to Scott in Friday’s other semifinal.
Lockard said the Highlanders would present a challenge.
“Scott has a good team,” he said.
Lockard said he took a different approach this season.
“We made some adjustments throughout the season and they’ve worked,” he said. “I feel like it’s all coming together well, but it’s high school sports, and anything can happen. We all know that.
“It’s been a different process, and everything has worked.”
Clinton did not have Bryson Maddox on Friday after he suffered a mild ankle injury in the regular-season finale against Kingston.
“We were without Bryson and he probably could’ve played, but I decided it wasn’t worth the risk,” Lockard said. “We had to get used to not having him, but we had some other guys step up like Tristian Lundy and Eli Slaven.”
Lundy and Slaven each scored 20 points against the Eagles. Lundy added five rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Ben Tackett had eight points and five rebounds, while Jaxson Alcorn finished with six points and three rebounds for Clinton, which will host a first-round Region 2-AAA tournament game Saturday.
A win Tuesday would mean the Dragons would host the final two rounds of the regional tournament.
