Clinton County traveled to Bowling Green Monday night to play in the semi-finals of the 4th Region Tournament against Warren Central.

Warren Central, out of the 14th District, took the runners-up title to Bowling Green High School in the district championship.

Monday night’s matchup wasn’t supposed to be as close of a game as it was, but Clinton County didn’t play to lose.

Clinton County started out strong against the 4th Region powerhouse, tying the score at 2-2 on a field goal by Caleb Guffey. After falling behind 5-2 after a three pointer by Warren Central, Nick Delk put in a basket, followed by another field goal by Guffey for a 6-5 lead at the 5:24 mark.

Going into Monday night’s game, no one told Clinton County they would be the least athletic team on the floor. No one told them they should just lay down and take the loss.

Clinton County fought the entire game and kept the Dragons on their toes the entire 36 minutes.

After the Dawgs took a one point lead, Warren Central put together a 9-0 run to take a 14-6 lead at the 3:48 mark.

Clinton County’s Nick Brown made a field goal to cut the lead to six points, but Warren Central added five points to the board to lead 21-8 with 2:20 remaining in the first quarter.

The Dawgs fought back with three pointers, one by Brown and one by Blake Melton, cutting the lead to seven points at the end of the quarter, 21-14.

The fight continued during the second quarter, as Melton picked up a mid court steal and drove down for a layup to get to within five points, 21-16.

Warren Central stopped the bleeding somewhat with a field goal, 23-16, but a basket by Chase Stines and a three pointer by Bryson Cross put the Dawgs to within two points, 23-21, with 5:14 on the clock.

The Dragons then went on a 7-0 run to push the lead out to nine points, 30-21.

Melton and Delk both went to the line in the final minute of the half and both hit one of two to cut the lead to seven, but a field goal with 11 seconds remaining in the half for Warren Central sent the Dragons into the locker room at the half with a nine point lead, 32-23.

As the third quarter got underway, Stines opened up with two foul shots to cut the lead to seven points.

Warren Central hit a field goal at the 5:45 mark to extend the lead back to nine points, but two foul shots by Delk again put the Dawgs to within seven points, 34-27.

Both teams traded baskets for a couple of minutes until Stines cut the lead to four on a three point play at the 2:47 mark, 39-35.

By the time the third quarter was over, Warren Central had regained a seven point lead 44-37.

With only eight minutes left in the game, Clinton County wasn’t out completely.

There was still enough fight left to give Warren Central a run to the end.

The Dragons went up by 10 points on three free throws to open the fourth quarter, 47-37.

At that point, Melton floated a three pointer at the 3:41 mark to cut the lead to seven. On the next possession, Cross drained a three pointer to cut the lead to four at the 3:26 mark.

With the game on the line, Warren Central tried to use the clock to its advantage.

At the 1:59 mark, the Dragons converted a three point play to move up by seven, 50-43.

Melton then got fouled on the next possession and sent to the line where he drained two to cut the lead to five points, 50-45.

Brown would score the final two points of the game for the Dawgs at the 30 second mark making it a nine point game, 56-47.

Head Coach Todd Messer put substitutes in at 26 seconds remaining in the game as Clinton County was defeated 58-47.

The Dawgs finish its season with a 24-8 record on the year.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Melton 11

Brown 9

Delk 8

Stines 7

Cross 6

Guffey 6

Clinton County 53

Franklin-Simpson 42

The Clinton County Bulldogs took on the Wildcats of Franklin-Simpson in the final game of the first round last Wednesday night at Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, for the chance to move to the semi-final of the 4th Region Tournament.

The match-up turned out to be a revenge game from December 6, when Clinton County had a commanding lead at home and ended up losing by one point, 46-45.

The game started out with Caleb Guffey getting the first bucket of the game and a quick 2-0 lead.

Franklin-Simpson tied the score at two on a basket during the next possession, but then Clinton County put together an 11-3 run that included two three pointers by Evan Dearborn to take a 13-5 lead with 1:06 on the clock.

Dearborn’s three pointers would be his final points as a Bulldog as an unfortunate injury to his foot took Dearborn off the floor for the remainder of his high school career. Dearborn’s foot sustained a fracture that will require more than six weeks of healing time.

By the end of the first quarter, Clinton County had full control of the game and a 15-7 lead.

The Dawgs continued to play well during the second quarter, adding to its lead.

Franklin-Simpson cut the lead to six points on a field goal in the first 17 seconds of the period, but Chase Stines hit a field goal to put the Dawgs up by eight, 17-9.

Franklin-Simpson again added a basket to cut the lead back to six points, but once again Stines was there to push the lead back to eight points, 19-11.

At the 5:35 mark, Blake Melton caught fire and floated in back-to-back three pointers, forcing Franklin-Simpson to pull out of its zone defense.

Clinton County now led the game with a score of 25-11 with 4:54 remaining until halftime.

The Wildcats put together a 7-0 run to cut the lead to seven points at the 1:43 mark.

Bryson Cross stopped the bleeding with a field goal at the 1:23 mark, 27-18, to end the quarter.

The third quarter got a little rough for the Dawgs as Franklin-Simpson just wouldn’t go away.

After reaching a 34-21 lead on a three pointer by Nick Brown at the 6:24 mark, Franklin-Simpson put together an 11-2 run to cut the lead to four points with 1:14 on the clock in the third.

Brown made a field goal to extend the lead to six, but Franklin-Simpson cut that lead back to four with 50 seconds remaining.

Cross drove the lane with 22 seconds left for a layup and was fouled, converting the three point play for a 41-34 lead.

With five seconds remaining in the third, Franklin-Simpson scored a field goal to finish the quarter with a score of 41-36 in favor of the Dawgs.

During the first part of the fourth quarter, Stines went to the line and put in two free throws to extend the lead to 43-36.

Franklin-Simpson added a field goal to trail, 43-38 with six minutes on the clock.

During the next two minutes, it seemed the Dawgs were losing composure until Brown drained a three pointer from the left wing at the 4:04 mark to put the Dawgs up by eight points, 46-38.

A minute later, Stines hit two free throws to give the Dawgs back a double digit lead, 48-38.

The Wildcats scored back-to-back field goals, one at the 1:42 mark and one at the 1:21 mark that would end up being its final points of the game.

Clinton County held its composure and ran out the clock, scoring a few more baskets along the way to pick up the first round win, 53-42.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Stines 13

Melton 10

Brown 10

Guffey 9

Dearborn 6

Cross 5

Blake Melton knocked down one of his two three pointers during Clinton County’s final game Monday night against Warren Central. The Dawgs lost the contest, 58-47. Melton led all scores for Clinton County with 11 points.

Bryson Cross drove the lane during the first half of Clinton County’s first round game against Franklin-Simpson last week. The Dawgs defeated the Wildcats, 53-42, and took on Warren Central in the semi-finals on Monday night.

Above, Senior Evan Dearborn knocked down a three pointer during Clinton County’s opening round win against Franklin-Simpson last week.

Below, Senior Caleb Guffey put up a shot during the second half against Warren Central during the semi-final round game Monday night. Clinton County lost the game, 58-47.