While the end result might have been what most in Diddle Arena expected for an outcome of a regional tournament basketball game between the highly rated Barren County Trojans and the much lower rated Clinton County Bulldogs, what most didn’t expect is the degree of fight and the way the Dawgs went down swinging.

Facing off as the runner-up squad from the 16th District, Clinton County entered the opening round of the 4th Region basketball tournament last Tuesday night, going up against the champions of the 15th District, the Barren County Trojans.

In the end, the Bulldogs left the floor heartbroken that the season had ended in a loss, but with their heads held high, knowing they had just taken the Trojans to a down to the wire battle that saw Barren advance to the semi-final round after a narrow 51-47 win.

Just the week before, in the final regular season contest of the season for both teams, the Bulldogs had lost in lop-sided fashion on Clinton County’s home floor against the Trojans, 64-48.

As the two teams squared off for last Tuesday night’s 4th Region opening round game, the Trojans came in as the second highest favored team to win the regional championship, just behind Bowling Green, while the Bulldogs were picked as the next to last in the eight team field.

When it comes to tournament time, anything can happen and rankings are often proved wrong, especially when head coaches and players believe in themselves and have hopes of pulling off an upset win.

Clinton County Head Coach Todd Messer told the media in the post-game interview session, that on this particular night, he was proud of the effort his team put forth, and it was nearly a night where the experts were proven to be wrong.

“I’d say most people in the gym thought it was going to be a comfortable win for Barren coming over here, except for me and some people say I’m just stubborn because I expect to win every game and that’s never going to change,” Messer said.

The coach also noted that after his Bulldogs fell behind by five points at halftime, his intermission message to the players could best be described as “pure fury” – a description that brought nods from the three players who had accompanied him to the post-game interview session, Brett Gibson, Jamison Summers and Colin Langford.

Messer said that the team gave up two many second-chance points in the contest as likely the biggest single factor in the loss.

The Bulldogs pulled down 22 total rebounds on the night, while Barren County pulled 37 rebounds in the game, 18 of which were offensive and many resulting in baskets under the goal.

The coach also noted that another Clinton County problem Tuesday night came in the turnover column, where the Bulldogs committed 17 compared to the Trojans 14 floor turnovers.

That number is considerably misleading in how the turnover factor affected the outcome, until you realize that the Trojans were able to score 14 points on Clinton County turnovers, compared to just five points for the Bulldogs, when looking at the Barren County turnover column.

In addition, it was Clinton County’s number of unforced turnovers that caused significant damage to their upset hopes as well, with Messer pointing out that the Bulldogs’ unforced mistakes included actions like “dribbling off our shins.”

“We love this game because when things are going well, you feel like you can move a mountain or jump over it, but when things are going bad, and you put your heart and soul into it, and you’re on the wrong side of the scoreboard, it brings you to your knees,”Messer said. “Tonight, I’ve got 13 kids and a bunch of coaches in there that were brought to their knees because they brought everything they had.”

Clinton County dropped in the first basket of the night, a jumper from Langford to give the Bulldogs a 2-0 lead.

From that point on, the game saw nine tied scores and seven lead changes.

Clinton County controlled a one point advantage at the close of the first quarter of action, 13-12 on a pair of free throws by Gibson.

The game shifted in momentum during the second quarter of play, with Barren County outscoring the Bulldogs 17-11 to take a 29-24 lead to the dressing room at halftime

After Messer’s self described halftime of fury presentation, the Bulldogs returned to the floor with a renewed vigor and came storming back, outscoring the Trojans 13-10 on the quarter to close the gap to just two points heading into the fourth and final quarter of play, 39-37.

Barren County again eased out to control a larger lead as the final quarter played out, at one time early in the period appearing to have put it away with a nine point advantage over the Bulldogs, 46-37 with 5:37 remaining in the game.

Clinton County wasn’t ready to give up yet, however, and slowly the Bulldogs began chipping away again at the Trojan lead.

The Bulldogs went on a 10-5 run during a four minute run that saw five Clinton County players, Summers, Langford, Gibson, Eli Brown and Jackson Harlan, make a field goal each, resulting in cutting the Trojan lead to just two points, 49-47 with 0:36 showing on the game clock.

Clinton County missed a final jumper that could have tied the contest, and a final desperation foul allowed the Trojans to seal the victory from the line with a four point win over the Bulldogs, 51-47.

The win sent the Trojans forward to the semi-final round of regional tournament play, where they defeated Warren Central on Monday night and were set to face top rated Bowling Green on Tuesday night for the regional championship title.

Bowling Green advanced Monday by defeating 16th District champions Russell County 61-55.

Clinton County, despite last week’s heartbreaking loss in the regional tournament, closed its season out above the .500 mark with a 15-14 record on the season.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Gibson 19

Summers 14

Langford 10

Brown 2

Harlan 2

Brett Gibson took a three pointer during Clinton County’s opening game of the 4th Regional Tournament Tuesday night in Bowling Green at Diddle Arena. Gibson finished the game with 19 points.

Jackson Harlan put up a shot in the lane during the second half of Tuesday’s regional matchup against the Trojans of Barren County.

Above, Colin Langford broke free during the first half of Clinton County’s regional opener Tuesday night to score two of his 10 total points. Clinton County lost the game by a final of 51-47, Below, Jamison Summers drove the lane for an open layup during the second half of Tuesday’s game. Summers finished with 14 points.