The Clinton County Bulldogs head into its first holiday tournament, the Twin Lakes Holiday Classic, with a 6-0 record, coming off two district wins last week against Cumberland County, 92-47, and Russell County, 63-48.

The team’s first game in the Holiday Classic was against Louisville Iroquois and resulted in a 73-57 win for the Bulldogs improving its record to 7-0 on the year.

The Bulldogs played on Tuesday morning against Ballard Memorial and Tuesday night against Somerset, PA. Those games were too late for press deadline and will be featured in next week’s edition of the Clinton County News.

Clinton County 73

Iroquois 57

Clinton County opened Monday night’s game against the Raiders of Iroquois much like the beginning of the game against Cumberland County last week.

The Bulldogs started off with an 8-0 lead before the Raiders would score.

The game was up and down the floor, with both teams taking advantage of the quickness each team possessed.

Midway through the first quarter, Clinton County’s Sawyer Stalcup knocked down a three pointer, the first of his game high four three pointers, to give the Bulldogs a nine point lead, 13-4.

The Raiders cut the lead to seven on a basket, but Stalcup dropped in another three pointer to push the Dawgs ahead by 10 points, 16-6.

A field goal by Langford gave the Bulldogs a 12 point advantage and the remainder of the period it was back-and-fourth basketball.

Clinton County finished the quarter scoring 24 points to the Raiders’ 14.

During the second quarter, the Raiders scored four quick points to cut the lead to six, 24-18.

Langford made a basket to stop the bleeding somewhat, but the next trip down the floor for the Raiders resulted in a field goal to cut the lead back to six, 26-20.

Stalcup hit a two point field goal with 5:01 on the clock, but Iroquois answered again with a field goal, 28-22.

With 4:05 on the clock, Ryan Beard knocked down a three pointer from the right side for a nine point lead. Iroquois went to the foul line on the next possession and hit one of two, but Stalcup was there again to nail a three pointer for a 34-23 lead.

Iroquois would only score five more points for the remainder of the half, whereas Clinton County scored six points, including a last second shot by Stalcup as the buzzer sounded at halftime. Clinton County led the game by 12 points at the break, 40-28.

As the second half got underway, Clinton County continued to dominate the floor.

Both teams were still pushing the ball, making for a good, fastpaced game.

Langford scored the first two points of the half for Clinton County from the free throw line, 42-28, but Iroquois followed with a field goal to cut the lead back to 12 points.

Clinton County then hit a 6-0 run from Keifer Dalton, Wendell Maupin and two free throws from Wayne Stearns for an 18 point lead, 48-30.

The Dawgs remained in control for the remainder of the game, but Iroquois was still a threat with its speed.

The Dawgs picked up a 25 point margin at the 1:26 mark, 62-37 and Iroquois finished the scoring in the third period to cut the lead to 22 points, 62-40.

Clinton County was out scored in the final period, but the damage had already been done as the Bulldogs cruised to a 73-57 win, picking up its seventh win of the season.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Stalcup 20

Stearns 13

Dalton 12

Maupin 11

Langford 10

Beard 6

England 1

Clinton County 63

Russell County 48

The Bulldogs made it to 6-0 by defeating Russell County on Friday night of last week. Before Friday night’s game, both teams were 5-0, and with both teams playing each other, someone was bound to lose.

In a game that started out slow for the Bulldogs, quickly saw a dramatic turnaround at the end of the first half and a much better played second half for a 15 point win, 63-48.

During the first quarter, both teams went back and fourth for several minutes. Both sides of the gym were loud with student sections yelling, fans yelling and of course, coaches yelling, trying to get their teams on the right track.

Wayne Stearns drew first blood by knocking down a floater in the lane, but a field goal and a free throw put the Lakers on top, 3-2.

On the other end, Stearns hit two free throws of his own to gain a one point lead within the first minute of the game.

Russell County continued to have the hot hand, shooting 40 percent in the first half.

Clinton County went scoreless for around a minute in the first quarter, which allowed Russell County to take a three point lead with 6:16 on the clock.

Clinton County came back and tied the score and then took the lead by one point with 5:15 on the clock, 8-7.

Russell County wouldn’t go away as the Lakers tied the score, then went ahead by four points. Clinton County’s Colby Langford scored two points with 2:31 on the clock, but Russell County answered with a 5-0 run to lead by seven points with 18 seconds remaining in the first quarter, 17-10.

With seconds winding down, Joe Davis stepped up and knocked down a three pointer, which was the first of the game after five attempts, to close out the first period and cut Russell County’s lead to four, 17-13.

The second quarter didn’t go much better for the Bulldogs, at least not until the end of the period, as Russell County maintained control of the game.

Clinton County’s shots were not falling and the team was getting frustrated.

Russell County continued to add to its lead, eventually taking a 10 point lead with 3:01 on the clock.

After having a “light’s out” game Tuesday night against Cumberland County, Sawyer Stalcup struggled from the floor until the 2:30 mark when he knocked down a three pointer and was fouled on the shot. Stalcup went to the line and made a free throw to convert the four point play and get the Bulldogs back on track for a shot at the lead.

Clinton County then picked up the pace on offense after Russell County scored with 2:10 on the clock to move ahead by eight points, 30-22.

Stalcup hit a free throw, followed by another three pointer by Davis and a three pointer by Stearns for an 11-2 run to close out the first half, trailing by one, 30-29.

At the start of the second half, Clinton County regained the lead off a field goal by Langford. Russell County took the lead back on a three pointer, 33-31, back to back baskets by Stearns and Keifer Dalton gave the Bulldogs a four point lead.

Both teams were back and forth for the remainder of the third quarter, but Clinton County started to play like a team, taking a five point lead at the end of the period, 45-40.

As the final period got underway and the gym’s vocals getting louder, Clinton County jumped out to a seven point lead as Stearns made a basket, 47-40.

Russell County answered with a field goal, but Clinton County put together a 5-0 run to move up by 10 with 4:03 on the clock.

After being down by 10 in the first half, and taking a 10 point lead in the second half, Clinton County’s 20 point swing proved to fans they were back on track.

With 3:48 remaining in the game, Russell County’s Tyler Robinson left the court due to an injury. Losing the team’s leading scorer, opened the door completely for the Bulldogs to maintain the lead and take the win.

With 3:12 on the clock, Head Coach Todd Messer called for a half court stall offense that proved to be effective.

Clinton County then only took wide open shots from the floor that gave Stalcup seven points in the final two minutes of the game.

The Dawgs finished with a 15 point win, to equal a 25-point turnaround for its sixth win of the season, 63-47.

From the floor, Clinton County shot 42.3 percent, including six of 16 from the three point line. From the foul line, the Bulldogs hit 13 of 16 for 81.3 percent.

As a team, Clinton County only committed eight turnovers compared to Russell County’s 16.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Stearns 21

Langford 16

Stalcup 12

Dalton 6

Davis 6

Maupin 2

Clinton County 92

Cumberland County 47

To say Clinton County completely dominated Tuesday night’s game against the Panthers is simply an understatement.

From the opening tip until the final buzzer, Clinton County added points to the board.

At the 5:02 mark in the first quarter, just three minutes after the opening tip off, Clinton County was in the lead, 18-4.

At the 4:36 mark, Stalcup began his three point reign which consisted of back-to-back-to-back three pointers for a single handed 12-0 run, 27-4.

Dalton added to that run with a three pointer, 30-4, with 2:30 on the clock.

Cumberland County never recovered from the first three minutes of the game as Clinton County finished the quarter with a 36-8 lead.

During the second quarter, Clinton County held Cumberland County to only five points while adding 16 points, for a 52-13 halftime lead.

As the second half got underway, Clinton County continued to dominate, but both teams scored 17 points during the period. Clinton County’s lead at the end of three, 69-30.

The fourth quarter saw all of the Bulldogs getting some action as the team ran the score up to 92 points for a final of 92-47.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Stalcup 20

Dalton 14

Langford 14

Stearns 10

Beard 8

Albertson 8

Davis 5

Choate 4

Perdue 3

Claywell 3

Maupin 2

Cook 1