The Clinton County Bulldogs moved to 3-0 on the year after a high scoring contest against regional foe Franklin-Simpson Saturday at The Castle.

Clinton County’s 81 point effort saw four starters in double figures and several players close to double-double status.

Clinton County 81

Franklin-Simpson 63

As Saturday’s game time got moved around due to the weather conditions, fans saw the Dawgs tip off around 1:30 and Clinton County didn’t let up until the final buzzer sounded for the 81-63 win.

Clinton County started off 4-0 on baskets by Keifer Dalton and Colby Langford. The Wildcats quickly cut the lead to one on a three pointer, but a three pointer by Claywell, who finished with 11 points, pushed the Dawgs’ lead back to four, 7-3.

Franklin-Simpson tied the score at seven, but back-to-back buckets put them with an 11-7 lead.

Clinton County would finish the quarter with 14 points, while Franklin-Simpson finished with only 8.

During the second quarter, Clinton County really started moving the ball up and down the floor and had Franklin-Simpson trying to play catch-up.

With 4:26 in the quarter, Franklin-Simpson cut the Bulldogs’ lead to two points, 18-16, but the Dawgs put together a 20-3 run to close out the quarter, including a three pointer by Langford as the buzzer sounded at halftime, 38-19.

During the second half, it was all Clinton County. The closest Franklin-Simpson would come was during the third quarter, when the Wildcats cut the lead to 13, 47-34, but Clinton County was just too strong down the stretch picking up the 81-63 win.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Langford 24

Dalton 19

Claywell 11

Nelson 11

Means 6

Choate 6

McWhorter 2

England 2

“It was really encouraging to see the post play we got from Choate, Means, Anderson and Nelson. Cole was definitely more active offensively and on the boards,” Head Coach Todd Messer said. “If he can keep his focus and aggression over the course of the game we could have the makings of something special.”

Clinton County 62

Somerset 56

The Clinton County Bulldogs moved to 2-0 on the year with an impressive come-from-behind third quarter performance to defeat Somerset, 62-56.

During the first quarter, Clinton County started off on a good note, picking up a 7-2 lead in the first minute and a half.

Clinton County’s Lance Claywell hit his first three pointer at the 5:15 mark to extend the Dawgs’ lead to 10-4. Somerset answered with a three pointer of its own, but Colby Langford added a bucket at the 2:36 mark to regain a five point lead, 12-7.

Somerset added two more points to the board on a basket, but on the next trip Cole Nelson was fouled, sending him to the line where he made one of two for a three point advantage, 13-9.

Keifer Dalton scored with 1:40 on the clock, but a three pointer by Somerset cut the Dawgs’ lead to only three points by the end of the first quarter, 15-12.

The second quarter saw Somerset start pushing the envelope and finally the Briar Jumpers took the lead early in the period on a 4-0 run, 17-15.

Dalton tied the score on a bucket, followed by two free throws by Langford to regain the lead, 19-17, with 5:02 before halftime.

Somerset then took advantage of our cold streak and failure to put anything through the basket. The Briar Jumpers put together a 7-2 run for a five point edge at the 2:42 mark, to lead 26-21.

Clinton County fought back toward the end of the period, finishing the half only two points behind, 28-26.

Somerset remained in control of the game during the first part of the second half, and went up on the Dawgs, 34-28, during the first two minutes of the period.

At the 5:15 mark, Dalton made a steal and drove the ball in for a layup. With a defensive stop by Clinton County, the Dawgs came down the floor and hit Claywell on the wing for a three pointer to cut Somerset’s lead to one, 34-33.

Another defensive stop led the Dawgs to score again, this time Colin Langford put the ball in to take its first lead since the 5:02 mark in the second quarter, 35-34.

Somerset answered with a field goal, but two free throws by Dalton and another three pointer by Claywell put the Dawgs up by four points with 2:49 remaining in the quarter, 40-36.

Even though the Bulldogs played better in the latter part of the third period, they still were not up to par with their game.

Clinton County struggled to score, however, their defense held strong and fueled the team on offense enough to keep the lead for the remainder of the period.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Clinton County led the Briar Jumpers 44-40.

Somerset cut the lead to three points on one of two from the line, but the next trip down the floor for Clinton County saw Langford put a basket in and he was fouled. He made the free throw for the three point play and put the Dawgs up by six points at the 7:28 mark, 47-41.

Clinton County kept the game a two-possession game for the better part of the fourth quarter and finally reached an 11 point lead at the 3:09 mark, after two back-to-back layups by Cole Nelson on the left hand block.

At the 2:41 mark, Clinton County started using the clock in order to secure the win.

Somerset cut the lead to seven with 38 seconds, 60-53, but Dalton hit two from the foul line with 20 seconds remaining for the 62-53 lead.

With the final seconds running off the clock, Somerset knocked down a three pointer to reach the final score of, 62-56. The Bulldogs moved to 2-0 with the six point win and moved one game above .500 in school history.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Dalton 20

Claywell 16

Colby Langford 16

Nelson 6

Colin Langford 4

Clinton County traveled to Monroe County Tuesday, December 10 and will host the Australian team on Thursday. The team travels to Metcalfe County on Friday of this week.