The Clinton County Bulldogs were home before the holidays hosting the Twin Lakes Holiday Classic.

During the three day tourney, Clinton County played four games, picking up three wins and only one loss. The loss came to the tournament champions, Logan County, in the final game of the tournament on Sunday afternoon which gave the Bulldogs the third place finish due to the amount of quarters won during the entire tournament.

Clinton County 56

Logan County 65

The Clinton County Bulldogs took on Logan County in what was considered the championship game of the Twin Lakes Holiday Classic on Sunday, December 22.

After playing three games the previous two days, Clinton County’s lack of enthusiasm seem to be directly related to their fatigue as Logan County jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter, 19-9, with 1:20 on the clock.

Chase Stines and Nick Brown both hit two free throws to cut the lead to six points, 19-13, but a field goal to end the quarter for Logan County saw the Cougars up 21-13 at the end of the first eight minutes.

Logan County continued to hold its ground against the Bulldogs as Clinton County struggled to find its rhythm.

The Cougars opened the second quarter with a three pointer to extend the lead to 11 points, 24-13, but Nick Brown and Evan Dearborn answered with back-to-back three pointers to quickly cut the lead to five points, 24-19. Stines followed with a field goal to cut the lead to three with 5:02 remaining in the first half, 24-21.

To stop the bleeding caused by the Dawgs, Logan County hit a three pointer to extend the lead to six points. Stines answered again with a field goal at the 3:59 mark, but two field goals by Logan County put the Cougars up by eight points, 31-23 with 2:58 before halftime.

Stines went to the line and knocked down two free throws at the 2:42 mark and then all play stopped.

Logan County decided to dribble out the final 2:42 of the first half with no pressure from the Bulldogs. In what is usually done at the end of a game, was a tactic executed at the end of the first half and to somewhat of a success.

With four seconds remaining, Logan County saw an open lane and took it for an easy layup and a 33-25 halftime lead.

In what seemed like Clinton County ending on a bad note in the first half, Logan County started the second half on a bad note as well with a technical foul on a Logan County player for dunking during warm-ups.

Stines knocked down both free throws, getting back the two points Logan County scored while holding the ball for 2:42 in the first half.

Stines went back to the line at the 7:37 mark and knocked down two more free throws followed by a steal and a layup by Bryson Cross to give Clinton County a 6-0 run to start the second half and get to within two points, 33-31.

During the next four minutes, Logan County put together a 9-3 run to put the Cougars up by eight points, 42-34.

Clinton County struggled in the final minutes of the period on offense. By the time the third quarter was over Logan County had reached a seven point lead, 48-41.

In the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, Logan County reached a 10 point lead, 53-43, before Clinton County made one last run.

The Bulldogs cut the lead to four points on a free throw and field goal by Stines and a three pointer by Dearborn, 53-49. That was as close as the Dawgs would get as time ticked away and Logan County’s lead continued to grow.

By the time the final buzzer sounded, Logan County had pulled off the nine point victory, 65-56.

Stines ended up hitting 17 of 20 from the foul line.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Stines 23

Guffey 11

Dearborn 11

Brown 8

Cross 2

Delk 1

Clinton County 61

Eastern 59

During Clinton County’s third game of the Twin Lakes Holiday Classic on Saturday night against Eastern, the Bulldogs took the game down to the wire and came out with the win.

As the game started and got underway, it was clear both teams wanted to be on the winning side of the ball.

In the first quarter alone there were nine lead changes and two ties in the first eight minutes with Clinton County coming out on top, 14-13.

During the second quarter, Clinton County started to pull away somewhat as the Dawgs went on a 9-0 run, 23-13.

Eastern answered with a free throw and a field goal to get back to within seven points, but Stines with a free throw and Dearborn with a three pointer put the Dawgs up by 11 points, 27-16, with 3:10 on the clock.

To finish the half, Clinton County slowed the game down to take Eastern out of its normal run and gun style of playing in hopes to disrupt their flow during the game. At the end of the second quarter, Clinton County was in the lead, 32-27.

To start the third quarter, Eastern came out red hot outscoring Clinton County 10-4 to take a one point lead at the 3:12 mark, 37-36.

Eastern then hit a three pointer to move up by four points, but back-to-back field goals by Stines tied the game at 40 with 1:47 on the clock.

Eastern hit a field goal to move back up by two points, but Stines converted a three point play to put the Dawgs up by one at the end of three, 43-42.

Eastern took back the lead at the start of the fourth quarter on a three pointer, but a field goal by Stines and a field goal by Nick Delk put Clinton County up by two, 47-45.

Signs of fatigue were starting to show up, but the Dawgs were digging deep in order to get past being tired. During the last four minutes of the game both teams were back and forth with neither team getting more than three points ahead.

With 36 seconds remaining in the game and up by one points, 58-57, Clinton County missed a shot while Eastern got the rebound and called timeout to draw up one last play for the win.

At 24 seconds remaining, Eastern hit a field goal to put them up by one point, 59-58.

With Clinton County in possession of the ball with seconds ticking away a play was executed that saw Dearborn put up a three pointer from the left corner. With six seconds remaining, the ball fell through the net giving Clinton County the two point edge and ultimately the win, 61-59.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Stines 29

Dearborn 11

Delk 7

Guffey 6

Brown 4

Cross 4

Clinton County 46

Hopkins Central 32

Clinton County took on Hopkins County Central Storm on Saturday, which was the second game for the Bulldogs during the Twin Lakes Holiday Classic.

Clinton County struggled early in the game forcing Head Coach Todd Messer to substitute all five starters at one time.

Delk came off the bench and scored back-to-back baskets to put the Dawgs up by one point, 4-3, but Hopkins County answered with two field goals of its own for a three point lead, 7-4.

With 2:46 on the clock, Cohen Davis and Parker Tallent each hit one free throw to pull to within one point, 7-6, then Davis hit a three pointer to put the Dawgs up by two, 9-7.

Hopkins County finished the quarter with a three pointer at the buzzer for a one point lead, 10-9.

At the beginning of the second quarter, all five starters checked back into the game and just like that the flow of the game changed.

Stines came out and scored seven unanswered points to take a six point lead, 16-10 at the 6:30 mark.

Clinton County would finish the quarter scoring only three more points while Hopkins County scored four for a 19-14 halftime score in favor of the Dawgs.

The third quarter was a different story all together as Clinton County came out on a mission.

During the first six minutes of the second half, Clinton County put together a 16-6 run for a 15 point lead, 35-20.

At the end of the third quarter, the Dawgs led 40-22.

Clinton County continued to dominate during the fourth quarter although signs of fatigue where starting to show.

The Dawgs were outscored in the fourth quarter, 10-6, but the third quarter lead was too much for Hopkins County to come back from as Clinton County won the game, 46-32.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Stines 11

Delk 11

Davis 9

Cross 7

Brown 4

Tallent 2

Dearborn 2

Clinton County 54

Taylor County 48

Clinton County started off its opening game in the Twin Lakes Holiday Classic on a good note by scoring the first seven points.

Taylor County hit a field goal and then Clinton County answered with five more points for a 12-2 lead in the first quarter.

At the end of the first period, Clinton County was up by six, 14-8.

The second quarter saw Stines score all of Clinton County’s 14 points during the eight minutes. At the half, Clinton County had secured a nine point lead, 28-19.

During the third quarter, both teams were even after eight minutes of play with both teams scoring 13 points in the period. Clinton County led by nine at the end of three, 40-31.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Taylor County made a small run by hitting back-to-back three pointers to get to within three points, 40-37.

Clinton County’s Delk answered with a field goal at the 5:45 mark, but a three pointer by Taylor County put the Cardinals to within two points, 42-40 with 5:30 on the clock.

Dearborn, Caleb Guffey and Delk combined for a 5-0 run to put the Dawgs up by seven points with 3:39 remaining in the game, 47-40.

Taylor County hit yet another three pointer to get to within four points showing no signs of going away quietly.

Cross hit two free throws at the 1:15 mark and with Clinton County slowing the game down and running out the clock, most of the remainder of the game scoring for Clinton County came from the foul line.

During the final 1:09, Taylor County managed to score two free throws and a three pointer, but Clinton County also scored five points from Brown, Dearborn and Stines in order to give Clinton County its first win of the tournament, 54-48.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Stines 25

Dearborn 8

Delk 7

Brown 6

Cross 4

Guffey 4

Clinton County was back in action after Christmas by traveling to Logan County to participate in the Logan County Christmas Classic. Game highlights and scores will be in next week’s edition of the Clinton County News.

Caleb Guffey went up for a shot during the first half against Taylor County in the Twin Lakes Holiday Classic last week.

Evan Dearborn put up a three pointer against Taylor County in the first half as little fans were watching and learning trying to mimic Dearborn’s form. He finished with eight points.