Facing three opponents from our own 4th Region, the Clinton County Bulldogs finished last week with a 2-1 overall mark with a home court win and splitting a pair of road trip games.

Included in that lineup of early season games last week was an important big victory over 16th District opponent Metcalfe County on the home hardwood last Friday night, 78-35, in a contest that was played out under the KHSAA “Mercy Rule”

The Bulldogs also picked up a victory earlier last week when they traveled to Tompkinsville to take on the Falcons of Monroe County, outlasting that opponent down the stretch for a 64-58 victory on Tuesday, December 4.

The outcome wasn’t as favorable on Saturday afternoon, however, when the Dawgs ran into a hot-shooting buzz-saw in the form of the Greenwood Gators on the Bowling Green South Warren floor.

Playing without ailing point guard Jackson Harlan, the Bulldogs fell behind early and could never make up the difference, eventually losing the contest 73-48.

The total run of last week’s games moved the Bulldogs into action for this week’s contests with an overall record thus far of 4-1.

Clinton County – 78

Metcalfe County – 35

In it’s first game against one of the three 16th District opponents of the season, the Clinton County Bulldogs flexed it’s muscles early, and cruised to a 43 point win under the “Mercy Rule” last Friday night, 78-35.

The win against the Hornets came on a night that head coach Todd Messer never put his Bulldogs into a full court press during the 32 minute contest, and went to his bench early, eventually getting everyone some valuable playing time on the varsity level.

The Bulldogs got off to a somewhat slow start in the battle against the Hornets, jumping out to a 4-0 lead early, but letting Metcalfe County even the score near the halfway point of the opening quarter, 6-0.

Back to back three point baskets from Jackson Harlan and Chase Stines set the Clinton County game into a faster pace, putting the Bulldogs out in front 12-6 and eventually to a 15-10 first half finish.

Clinton County’s Nick Brown and Seth Stockton joined in on the scoring effort early in the second quarter of action, and within the first two minutes of that quarter, the Bulldogs had opened up a double-digit advantage, 25-12, en route to a 17 point halftime lead, 36-19.

There was no looking back for the Bulldogs as the continued to completely dominate the contest on both ends of the floor throughout the entire second half of action.

The Bulldogs quickly stretched it’s lead to more than 20 points over the Hornets, 41-19, early in the third quarter and by the end of that period, had put the game under the “Mercy Rule” by reaching an advantage of 35 or more points, 62-36.

Clinton County’s Evan Dearborn opened up the fourth and final quarter of play with back to back two-point field goals to stretch Clinton County’s lead out to 40 points, 66-26.

The Bulldogs saw final scoring coming from the bench through the efforts of Dearborn, Adam Hay, Lance Madison and Nick Delk as Clinton County ended the game with a 16-9 effort to collect the 78-35 win.

The Dawgs finished the night hitting 50 percent from the floor on 32 of 64 attempts, including dropping in five of 14 attempts from three point range.

From the line the Bulldogs hit nine of 11 attempts for 82 percent.

Stockton finished the night with his second “double-double” of the week, grabbing 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Harlan 23

Stockton 20

Dearborn 8

Guffey 6

Stines 6

Delk 3

Tallent 3

Hay 2

Madison 2

Pruitt 2

Clinton County – 64

Monroe County -58

On an off night from the floor, the Clinton County Bulldogs were able to hold on to a small lead down the stretch while facing a very capable Monroe County Falcon team in a game in Tompkinsville, picking up the eventual win over the Falcons, 64-58.

Clinton County’s ball control struggled early in the contest, as the Falcons once overtook the Bulldogs in the opening quarter to grab a 12-10 lead, and twice forced the score into ties, 6-6 and 12-12.

On a basket by Evan Dearborn, the Bulldog held a narrow 14-12 lead at the close of the first quarter, stretching out to a five point advantage at halftime, 27-22.

The Bulldogs appeared to be on the verge of a runaway effort as the second half got underway, grabbing a double digit lead,32-22, on aback to backfield goals by Harlan.

The Falcons had different ideas, however, refusing to drop out of the picture and managing to come back each time it looked like the Dawgs were ready to put them away.

A goal by Noah Pruitt at the half-way point of that third quarter put Clinton County’s lead at 37-28, and sending the Dawgs on their way to again a double digit lead, 44-30 on basket by Harlan, only to find the Falcons bounding back again to cut the lead to 10 by the end of the quarter, 44-34.

The see-saw scoring continued throughout the fourth and final quarter of action with the Bulldogs looking as if they would completely control the floor several times in the final quarter, only to find the Falcons clawing their way back into contention again.

That final claw back into the picture for Monroe County came way too lake for the liking of Clinton County fans, with the Falcons cutting a 14 point fourth quarter lead to just four points in the final seconds, before two final Dearborn free throw set the score and gave the Bulldogs a six point win, 64-58.

With 21 points and 13 rebounds, Stockton finished with his first “double-double”effort of the week.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Harlan 31

Stockton 21

Dearborn 9

Stines 6

Pruitt 4

Clinton County – 48

Greenwood – 73

Nothing seemed to work right for the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon in the Rafferty’s Shootout Classic at South Warren High School in Bowling Green.

Hitting the floor to take on a hard-hitting, sharp shooting Greenwood Gators squad, the Bulldogs found themselves behind early and after one comeback effort, never able to overcome any more scoring runs all afternoon long.

Couple that with having to play the game without it’s mainstay point guard, Jackson Harlan, who was sitting on the bench battling a bout with sever back muscle spasms.

The result was a contest that eventually saw the Bulldogs taking a 73-48 loss at the hand of the Gators, its first of the season.

The Bulldogs were clearly struggling to get their game into normal fashion Saturday, and when the Gators began dropping in three point baskets from “downtown”, everything went deeply south for the Big Blue.

After tying the Gators 10-10 and trailing by one three points at the end of the first quarter, 13-10, Clinton County slowly slipped behind as the second quarter progressed.

By halftime, the Bulldogs found themselves facing an eight point deficit, 33-25.

While shots were missing the mark on the Clinton County end, they were falling in with uncanny accuracy on the Gator end, and shortly after the start of the third quarter, the Bulldogs were trailing by double digits.

Following a 14-0 run by the Gators, the third quarter came to a close with Greenwood on top by 18 points, 56-34.

Clinton County opened with baskets from Stockton and Stines, but Greenwood quickly shut down that Bulldog comeback effort, and eventually pulled out to take the win by 25 points, 73-48.

The only bright spot in Clinton County’s offensive effort Saturday was that Stockton finished the game with his third straight “doubled-double” effort, dropping in 21 points and pulling down 13 rebounds for the Dawgs.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Stockton 21

Brown 7

Stines 5

Dearborn 4

Madison 4

Cross 3

Pruitt 3

Wright 1

Bulldog Seth Stockton put up this short jump shot last week during Clinton County’s win over Metcalfe County. Stockton finished the game with his second double-double of the week, dropping in 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

Clinton County point guard Jackson Harlan put up two of his 23 points with this shot against Metcalfe last Friday night. The Dawgs won the 16th District contest, 78-35.