In a game that was nip and tuck from start to finish and took an extra four minute overtime period to decide an outcome, the Clinton County Bulldogs fell victim to a higher rated Shelby Valley Wildcat squad Thursday, 66-63.

The loss for the Dawgs came in opening round action of the All “A” Classic State Tournament in the Paul McBrayer Arena on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University.

It was the second consecutive trip to the All “A” Classic State Tournament for the Bulldogs after winning the 4th Region Championship last week in Elkton, Kentucky.

Shelby Valley earned the berth in the All “A” Classic State tournament by winning the 15th Region Championship.

Rating the 16 teams in last week’s All “A” Classic, that first matchup between the Bulldogs and Wildcats, featured the 8th ranked Shelby Valley squad with a season record of 19-3, going up against the underdog Clinton County squad that came in ranked 12th and sporting a 16-6 season mark.

Still, the Dawgs held tight throughout the contest, and as the game came to a close in regulation play, looked as if they might pull off the upset bid and take the victory out of the grasp of the Wildcats.

After winning that opening game over the Bulldogs, Shelby Valley went on to defeat Danville in second round action, 47-30, before losing to eventual state champions University Heights in Saturday’s semi-final game 57-47.

Clinton County jumped out to control an early lead over the Wildcats on a layup and free throw by Chase Stines to get the game underway with an old-fashioned three point play as the Dawgs went up 3-0.

Shelby Valley came storming back however in a contest that saw seven tied scores and seven lead changes.

At the end of that first quarter of play, Clinton County held a narrow three point lead, 19-16.

The Dawgs appeared to be on the verge of putting Shelby Valley away early in the second quarter, moving out to control a one-time seven point led over the Wildcats that came on a Seth Stockton layup with 6:00 still showing on the first half game clock, 23-16.

Shelby Valley wasn’t ready to back down by any means, however, forcing the game into its fourth tied score with 3:00 on the clock, and even overtaking the Bulldogs to hold a one-point lead at halftime, 33-32.

The game was all Shelby Valley as it moved into the first few minutes of the third quarter, with the Wildcats controlling an eight point lead with 6:18 on the clock, 40-32.

A combination of scoring from Stockton, Stines, Noah Pruitt and Jackson Harlan brought the Bulldogs to within two points coming down the stretch, but quarter ending layup put the Wildcats out in front by four points, 50-46, as the game moved into the final eight minutes of regulation play.

Shelby Valley was in control of the game in the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, and for awhile, appeared to have the victory locked up as they moved into an eight point lead, 60-52, with just 1:58 remaining to be played.

Those final two minutes of action ended up being a Bulldog whirlwind, however, with back to back three point field goals by Harlan, capped off by a pair of made free throws by Stockton, and a blocked shot by Dearborn of what could have been a game winning Shelby Valley field goal, brought the Clinton County fan base to its feet with a chance of new life with a fourth quarter buzzer that ended regulation play in a 60-60 deadlock.

Just as the Bulldogs had caught some late game breaks at the end of regulation, the tide shifted completely during the overtime period, including a missed jumper off of the opening tip by Stockton,

Trailing by four points, Stines dropped in a pair of free throws for Clinton County with just 15 seconds remaining to pull the Dawgs within two points, 65-63.

Shelby Valley dropped in a final free throw with 10 seconds on the clock to take a three point lead, 66-63, and with what would have been another game tying Clinton County long range basket missing its mark, time ran out on the Bulldogs’ hopes of advancing to the next round of play.

Clinton County hit 38 percent of its field goal attempts, on 21 of 56 attempts, including 21 percent from three point range, shooting three of 14 attempts.

From the line, the Dawgs dropped in 18 of 27 attempts for 67 percent.

Shelby Valley’s biggest gun in its arsenal against Clinton County was its three point shooting abilities, the Wildcats dropping in 52 percent of its three pointer attempts on a 12-23 shooting night, including a nine of 14 effort from Cody Potter.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Harlan 28

Stockton 16

Stines 10

Guffey 4

Dearborn 3

Pruitt 2

Clinton County Bulldog Chase Stines moved around three Shelby Valley defenders to get this shot up in second half action Thursday night in Richmond.

The Bulldogs mounted a late game comeback against the Wildcats in the first round of the All “A” Classic state tournament, but eventually lost the game 66-63, in overtime.

Noah Pruitt pulled down this rebound, but was completely surrounded by Shelby Valley Wildcats when he started up to put up this shot Thursday night in Richmond. Clinton County lost the All “A” Classic opening round game in overtime, 66-63.

CCHS students did their part to show their support for the Bulldogs last Thursday night in the All “A” Classic state tournament first round game against Shelby Valley.

Nick Brown put some hard defense on this Shelby Valley player during second half action. The Bulldogs lost the opening round All “A” Classic game in Richmond, dropping the 66-63 overtime loss Thursday night.

Clinton County High School Cheerleaders rose to the occasion last Thursday in Richmond, working to keep the crowd noisy during the All “A” Classic opening round loss.