Sunday’s first round regional against Bowling Green started out with high hopes of moving on and continuing the season, but the end result saw Clinton County end its season with a 20-5 record with the 66-50 loss.

Clinton County 50

Bowling Green 66

Bowling Green’s first point of the game came from the free throw line inside the first 20 seconds.

After a missed opportunity for the Dawgs on offense, Bowling Green scored again to reach a 3-0 lead.

Clinton County’s Blake Melton stepped up and drained a three pointer to tie the score at the 6:40 mark. Melton finished the game with 15 points and earned a spot on the 4th Region All Tournament Team.

The Purples answered with a three pointer to take a three point lead, but driving the lane on the next possession earned Nick Brown a trip to the foul line where he made two of two in order to cut the lead to one, 6-5.

At the 5:02 mark, Bowling Green made a basket off a steal to extend its lead to three, but Brown was there again for a driving layup to get back to within one point of the Purples, 8-7.

Clinton County’s last basket of the quarter came with Brown’s layup at the 4:27 mark. From that point on in the period, it was all Bowling Green as the Purples put up seven straight for a 15-7 first quarter lead.

Forty seconds into the second quarter, Bowling Green reached its first double digit lead 17-7.

Bryson Cross got on to the board with a basket at the seven minute mark, but a three pointer by Bowling Green pushed the Purples to an 11 point lead, 20-9.

Melton hit his second three pointer of the game to cut the lead to eight points, but three free throws by the Purples put Bowling Green back up by 11, 23-12.

Melton drained his third three pointer at the 3:06 mark to once again cut the lead to eight points, 23-15.

The Dawgs scored three more points for the remainder of the half, coming from Chase Stines as he was fouled shooting a three pointer.

Stines’ three free throws put Bowling Green finishing the half with a 7-3 run for a 30-18 lead.

Clinton County came out in the second half on a mission. The Bulldogs put together a 7-0 run on two baskets by Cross and a three pointer by Brown to trail 30-25.

Bowling Green then scored six points in a row over the next minute of play to jump back out to an 11 point lead with 5:06 on the clock.

The basket by Bowling Green at the 5:06 mark was a dunk that was actually called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim.

Cross went to the line for the technical foul shots and made two of two in order to get the Dawgs back to a nine point deficit, 36-27.

After hitting another layup at the 4:51 mark, Bowling Green was called for another technical foul, sending Cross back to the line. Cross hit one of two, cutting the lead to 10- points with 4:48 remaining.

By the end of the third quarter, Clinton County had matched Bowling Green almost point for point and saw a nine point deficit at the end of the period, 46-37.

Bowling Green opened the fourth quarter on an 8-4 run to lead by 13 points, 54-41.

Head Coach Todd Messer called a timeout to stop the bleeding, but the damage had already been done.

Bowling Green reached a 20 point lead, the largest of the game, but in the final 2:31, Clinton County finished the game on a 5-2 run.

By the time the final buzzer had sounded, Clinton County’s season had ended in the first round of the regional tournament with the 66-50 loss.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Melton 15

Cross 9

Brown 9

Stines 8

Delk 4

Stockton 3

Davis 2

Clinton County 64

Metcalfe County 70

The 16th District Championship didn’t go as planned as the Dawgs fell to the Hornets of Metcalfe County by a final score of 70-64.

Clinton County opened up with a two point lead on a basket by Nick Delk in the lane.

Metcalfe County hit a three pointer, the first of 11 for the game, to take a one point lead, 3-2.

The Dawgs never led again in the game as they finished the first quarter down by five, 18-13.

Metcalfe County hit another three pointer at the beginning of the second quarter for an eight point lead. Clinton County’s Brown scored seven unanswered points for the Dawgs to get to within one, 21-20.

Brown scored 11 of his 19 points in the second quarter and kept Clinton County within striking distance in the first half.

Metcalfe County’s hot shooting performance was too much for Clinton County to defend as the Hornets led at the half, 37-30.

The Dawgs opened up the third quarter on a 9-3 run to get to within one point, 40-39.

Metcalfe went to the line on back-to-back trips hitting four total from the free throw line to lead by five, 44-39.

Cross hit a basket at the 3:14 mark to cut the lead to three points, but a three pointer and a field goal by the Hornets pushed the lead back to eight with 2:14 on the clock.

Melton dropped in a three pointer on the next possession to cut the lead to five, but a three pointer by Metcalfe County pushed the lead back to eight, 52-44.

Stines and Cole Nuetzman combined for two baskets to finish the third quarter down by four, 52-48.

To start the fourth quarter, Stines hit one of two from the line to cut the lead to three points, 52-49.

Metcalfe County again hit a three pointer to push the lead to six, but back-to-back three pointers by Melton and Brown tied the score at 55 with 6:44 remaining in the game.

That was as close as Clinton County would get to taking the lead for the remainder of the game.

Metcalfe County finished the game with a 15-9 run and propelled itself to becoming 16th District Champions for 2021.

With the loss, Clinton County moved to 20-4 on the year and lost the chance to host the first round of the 4th Region Tournament.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Brown 19

Stines 15

Melton 11

Delk 10

Cross 7

Nuetzman 2

Metcalfe County hosted Greenwood Sunday afternoon and was defeated by a final score of 73-58, ending its season as well.

Nick Brown drove the lane for a layup in the first half against Bowling Green on Sunday in the opening round of the 4th Region Tournament. Brown finished the game with nine points..

Chase Stines put up a shot in the lane during the second half against Bowling Green on Sunday. Stines finished with eight points.