Clinton County’s Bulldogs have the 2014-15 season off and running and with just three games behind them have moved out to a 2-1 record.

The start included a pair of wins on the local hardwood on either side of a somewhat disappointing loss on the road.

The Bulldogs opened the year with a 52-42 win over Casey County on the Lindle Castle Gymnasium floor last Tuesday night, then fell to 4th Region opponent Franklin-Simpson on the road Friday by a double-digit margin, 58-48.

The Bulldogs rebounded the following night with a 72-62 victory over the Raiders of Bowling Green’s Warren East on Saturday with a performance that displayed a much improved effort from the night before on Clinton County’s part.

Clinton County – 72

Warren East – 62

The Clinton County Bulldogs evened up its 4th Region record Saturday night, picking up a high scoring double-digit win over the Raiders of Bowling Green’s Warren East, 72-62.

The victory pushed the Bulldogs overall season record at this early stage in the year to a 2-1 mark while Warren East left the Lindle Castle Gymnasium with a record of 1-2.

The Raiders were first on the board Saturday night on a pair of made free throws just 40 seconds after the opening tip-off and following a basket by Clinton County’s Keifer Dalton to even the score, Warren East pulled back in front again on two more free throws.

Although Warren East managed to hang close to the Bulldogs, especially in the closing minutes of play that early first quarter lead would prove to be the last time the Raiders would be in front of the Dawgs.

Clinton County pulled in front again on a basket by Ethan Smith with 4:55 showing on the first quarter clock at 5-4 and a free throw by the Raiders that followed tied the score at 5-5.

The Bulldogs put together a 9-0 run that saw scoring from Dalton, Lance Claywell and Chance McWhorter to put Clinton County out in front by nine points, 14-5 and still in control of a nice lead at the end of the first quarter of action, 18-10.

Smith dropped in Clinton County’s first four points to get the second quarter off and running and send the Bulldogs out in front with its first double-digit lead, 22-12.

The game officials, apparently charged this year with attempting to cut down on hand-checking and incidental contact, succeeded in keeping the contest from picking up any manner of speed and rhythm, finishing the first half by calling some 30 personal fouls that resulted in both teams reaching the double bonus mark with 10 team fouls each in the first quarter.

Clinton County’s floor performance against the Raiders was far improved over the effort against Franklin-Simpson the previous night, and on a couple of occasions, the Bulldogs appeared poised to run away with the contest.

Warren East had other plans, however, and each time the Bulldogs were set to pull away, the Raiders managed to put together enough scoring to put themselves back within reach.

The Bulldogs held a one-time 15 point lead over the Raiders coming down the stretch near the end of the first half, 35-20, but saw their halftime lead cut to 12 points, 36-24.

It was Warren East that opened the second half with a hot shooting hand and before the Bulldogs were able to turn things around, the fans on hand were suddenly watching a close contest again.

The Raiders opened the third quarter with a 10-2 run that cut Clinton County’s lead to just four points, 38-34 early in the quarter.

Clinton County was able to pull back out with a mid-quarter run that gave the Bulldogs another double-digit lead, 47-36, but another strong run by the Raiders cut Clinton County’s lead to eight at the end of the third period of play, 50-42.

Clinton County was again outscored at the start of the fourth quarter, this time with a Warren East 7-2 run to cut the Bulldogs advantage to just three points, 52-49, with well over five minutes still showing on the game clock.

Looking as if they were playing out of sync for a stretch in the final quarter, Clinton County found themselves in a two point game at the mid-point of the final quarter and just as suddenly as things had seemed to go sour for the Dawgs, the game turned back around in the other direction.

With the Big Blue fan base showing its enthusiasm and raising the noise level inside the gymnasium, Clinton County responded with a renewed effort and as the game rounded toward the finish line, the Bulldogs were able to once again begin putting some distance between themselves and the Raiders

Leading by only two points with just over four minutes to play, Clinton County finished the contest with floor and free throw scoring from Smith, Dalton and Claywell to slowly but surely pull away from the Raiders and capture the 10 point victory, 72-62.

The game ended with a total of 55 personal fouls being charged – 28 against Clinton County and 27 against the Raiders, and although the Bulldogs had five players finish with four personal fouls against them, no Clinton County player fouled out.

Warren East lost only one player down the stretch to five personal fouls.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Smith 26

Dalton 19

Claywell 16

Langford 4

McWhorter 4

Nelson 2

England 1

Clinton County – 48

Franklin-Simpson – 58

On a night when the Clinton County Bulldogs could never seem to find its normal flow, things went from rough to worse at Franklin Simpson High School.

Before the night had painfully ended, the Bulldogs had picked up its first loss of a very young season, losing a 10 point decision at the hands of the Wildcats, 58-48.

Clinton County, one of the top rated teams in the fourth region this year, was never able to put its game into a working pace and from start to end, only briefly held the lead in the first half.

The Bulldogs trailed 7-1 as the game got underway when Chase Anderson put together five unanswered points himself to pull his team to within a single basket, 7-5.

For a time late in the first quarter, the Bulldogs looked as if they might be able to put their game into some sort of working order and as that opening quarter came to a close, the Dawgs had put together a 7-0 run to hold a 15-12 lead.

The Bulldogs’ game went into the same non-working mode as the second quarter got underway, and by halftime, the Wildcats had turned things around to take control of a two point lead going into the break, 28-26.

Franklin-Simpson’s command of the contest continued throughout the third quarter, while for the Bulldogs, things only worsened as the game progressed into the second half.

Clinton County trailed by as many as 13 points in the third quarter but managed to seemingly turn things around once again late in the fourth quarter to cut the Franklin lead to seven points going into the fourth and final period of play, 41-34.

The Bulldogs continued on the see-saw style of play as the fourth quarter progressed. Back to back scoring from Dalton and Colin Langford near the mid-way point of the quarter cut the Franklin lead to four points, 46-42, and with just over a minute to play, a banked-in jumper by Claywell cut the Wildcat lead to just two points, 50-48.

The Wildcats were able to stretch back out to a comfortable lead with successful free throw shooting in the final minute of action, dropping in eight straight unanswered points from the free throw line to grab the double-digit, 10 point victory, 58-48.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Dalton 16

Smith 12

Claywell 10

Anderson 5

Langford 3

England

Clinton County – 79

Casey County – 65

The Clinton County Bulldogs hosted Casey County for its first home game of the season Tuesday night, December 2. In what was a rocky start for the Dawgs, the boys’ in blue ended up with a W in the win column, 79-65.

From the tip to the end of the first quarter, Clinton County was trying to find its rhythm on the hardwood. Casey County jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, but the Dawgs game back with an 8-0 run to lead by four, 8-4, with 2:59 on the clock.

Clinton County finished the quarter with only a field goal, while Casey County got back into the game and tied the score just before the period ended at 10.

For much of the second period, Clinton County struggled on offense. Both teams held its own against each other until the 2:55 mark when Claywell hit a jumper to take a two point lead and start a 10-3 run to finish the half, 25-18.

The second half went much like the first with the Dawgs not finding the bottom of the basket.

Claywell hit a game high six three pointers, which helped Clinton County’s offense get the boost it needed in the second half.

At the 6:01 mark, Smith knocked down a three pointer from the corner to put the Dawgs up by nine, 31-22.

The final six minutes of the period, Clinton County kept Casey County at arms length by scoring 16 points to Casey County’s 19 points, for a six point lead to start the fourth. Casey County hit a half-court buzzer beater to end the period, 47-41.

During the final period, Clinton County’s play started to pick up with a basket by Dalton and one by England, 51-41.

At the 6:02 mark, Clinton County began to take full control of the game and started pulling away from Casey County.

During a two minute stretch in the quarter, Clinton County put together a 9-2 run to lead by 15 points, 60-45.

A small run by Casey County towards the end of the period would cut the Dawgs’ lead to 11 points, but that was as close as the Rebels would come as Clinton County picked up its first win of the season, 79-65.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Claywell 27

Dalton 23

Smith 19

England 5

Nelson 2

E. Anderson 2

C. Anderson 1

The Bulldogs will hit the hardwood for three more games this week, all of them double-header features with the Lady Bulldogs.

On Tuesday night, Clinton County was slated to play host to 4th Region rival Monroe County, another highly rated squad from this region.

On Friday night the Bulldogs will play host to Metcalfe County for the first 16th District matchup of the season. Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.

On Saturday, the Dawgs will travel west to Bowling Green to take on the Gators of Greenwood in a game set for a tip-off at about 4:30 p.m.

Ethan Smith went up for a shot during the second half against Casey County Tuesday, December 2, 2014. Clinton County won the game, 79-65. Smith finished with 19 points.

Glen England came off the bench and added a spark to Clinton County’s play Tuesday night against Casey County. England finished with five points for the game.