The Bulldogs have moved into an elite group of team’s in Clinton County’s history by making it to the 10-0 mark after winning the Twin Lakes Holiday Classic last week.

Clinton County defeated Pulaski County, ranked pre-season 15th in the state, by a final score of 62-56 in the final game of the tournament.

Clinton County went undefeated during the tournament, picking up the championship trophy of the round-robin tournament.

Twin Lakes Holiday Classic

Clinton County 62

Pulaski County 56

The Bulldogs made it through the tournament unbeaten and paired up against Pulaski County in the final game of the tournament, Wednesday, December 21, 2011. The game would see four technical fouls against Pulaski County and seven players from the Maroons fouling out of the contest.

Clinton County had defeated Louisville Iroquois, Ballard Memorial and Somerset, PA., before making it to Wednesday night’s game against Pulaski County with a much needed win to secure a first place finish in the tournament.

The Twin Lakes Holiday Classic was played in a round-robin type format, with each team scoring points for wins, quarter wins and being deducted points for losses.

Clinton County was the only team in the tournament to go undefeated, thus picking up the first place trophy for the second year in a row.

At the beginning of the game against Pulaski County, Clinton County came out on a mission, when Wayne Stearns hit a three pointer during the first 15 seconds of the game. Pulaski County answered with back to back field goals.

Stearns again scored, but this time from the foul line to take the lead at 5-4.

With the first of four technical fouls, Pulaski County received its first “T” in the first quarter with less than half the quarter played.

Maupin hit two of two from the line as the Bulldogs regained possession and put together a 5-0 run to take a 10-4 lead.

Head Coach Todd Messer was uncharacteristicly calm during the first quarter while the officials grew more upset at Pulaski County’s attitude.

Pulaski County scored on a three pointer to cut the lead to three points, 10-7, but a three pointer by Colby Langford pushed the lead back to six with 3:40 showing on the clock.

The Maroons didn’t fold as it scored again the following trip down the floor. Langford then answered with one of two from the free throw line for a 14-9 lead.

Pulaski County got to within two points on a three pointer with 1:06 on the clock, but four straight free throws, two by Ryan Beard and two from Stearns, gave the Dawgs an 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

At this point in the game, both teams were playing with high emotions. Pulaski County’s Kody Johnson scored all of the Maroon’s 12 first quarter points and the game was shaping up to be a battle to the end.

During the second quarter, Clinton County jumped out to an eight point lead off a basket from Langford.

Pulaski County answered with four straight points to cut the lead to three, 20-17.

Langford again scored a basket, but a 7-0 run by the Maroons gave Pulaski County a three point lead with 3:39 on the clock, 25-22.

Clinton County’s shot selection was good, however, the iron was cold as shots weren’t falling for the Bulldogs.

Pulaski County jumped out to a six point lead with 2:10 remaining before halftime. Clinton County scored three more points to finish the half compared to Pulaski County’s two points, to trail at halftime, 32-27.

As the second half got underway, Clinton County started chipping away at the lead, eventually tying the game at 37 with 4:09 on the clock.

The Bulldogs would find itself trailing at the end of the third by one point after scoring only four points during the final four minutes of the third period, 42-41.

The final quarter seemed to be the quarter Clinton County’s defense started to pick up. Pulaski County was plagued with foul trouble, having five players foul out by the end of the game, which included two more technicals on Pulaski County.

Clinton County took the lead on two free throws by Beard and a basket by Keifer Dalton, 45-42.

Pulaski County would score to cut the lead to one, but a 5-0 run by the Bulldogs gave the team a 50-44 lead with 5:41 on the clock.

Pulaski County tied the game with a 6-0 run, but Clinton County continued to shoot three pointers even though none were going in.

Sawyer Stalcup finally got a three pointer the old fashion way with 3:40 on the clock as he drove the lane, laid the ball in and was fouled. He knocked down the free throw for a 53-50 lead.

With 3:09 on the clock, Dalton extended the lead to five points and Clinton County started working the clock.

Pulaski County cut the lead to three points with 1:06 on the clock. Clinton County’s foul shooting wasn’t much in the final minute, but it proved to be enough, along with the five players from Pulaski County fouling out.

Dalton went to the line with seven seconds remaining to give the Bulldogs a six point win, 62-56.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Langford 24

Stalcup 11

Beard 8

Dalton 8

Stearns 6

Maupin 5

Twin Lakes Holiday Classic

Clinton County 64

Somerset, PA 48

Clinton County won it’s third game of the tournament Tuesday night, taking on Somerset, PA in what turned out to be a much closer game than the final score indicated with the Bulldogs taking win number three of the tournament, 64-48.

The Bulldogs started out in the hole as Somerset jumped out to a 4-0 lead.

Somerset led most of the quarter as Clinton County had a hard time adding points to the board due to a cold shooting night.

At the 1:50 mark, Joe Davis hit a basket to tie the score at nine. Somerset answered with a three pointer for a three point lead.

Stalcup then fired a three and connected for yet another tied ballgame, but Somerset owned the game from behind the three point line as they hit another three at the end of the period to lead the Bulldogs, 15-12, at the end of the first period.

Clinton County came out in the second half with a three pointer by Dalton to tie the score for the third time.

Somerset put together a 5-0 run to move up 20-15.

Langford, Clinton County’s MVP for the week, hit a field goal to cut the lead to three points, but a basket by Somerset put the out of state team back up by five, 22-17.

With 4:33 on the clock, Stearns got on the board with two free throws, followed by a field goal and two three pointers.

From the 5:26 mark to the 3:53 mark, Stearns scored 10 points to give the Bulldogs a three point lead, 27-24.

Dalton, Stalcup and Maupin continued with Clinton County’s 16-0 run to lead by nine, 33-24 with 2:02 left before halftime.

Somerset scored the final five points of the quarter to cut the lead at halftime, 33-29.

During the third quarter, Somerset opened the half with a three pointer to cut the lead to one point, but an 11-0 run over the next three minutes would give Clinton County its first double digit lead of the game, 44-32.

Somerset tried to get back in the game, but Clinton County’s ability to keep opponents at arm’s length was just too much.

At the end of the third period, Clinton County kept the lead at nine points, 46-37.

Somerset once again started the quarter with a basket, but Langford had something different in mind as he scored the Bulldogs’ next eight points, including back-to-back three pointers from the left corner, followed by a field goal.

Dalton added to Langford’s run with a field goal to push the Dawgs up by 15 points, 56-39.

Somerset made another run at the lead, scoring six straight, but a basket by Beard kept the momentum in favor of the Bulldogs, 58-45.

Somerset got to within 12 points before Head Coach Todd Messer put in five guards and continued to run the clock out.

Clinton County ran a stall play that opened the floor and allowed Stalcup to get an easy basket under the goal, 60-46, as well as Davis, 62-46.

Somerset scored a field goal with 1:51 on the clock, but Clinton County would be too far ahead in the end as the Bulldogs pulled off win number three in the holiday classic, 64-48.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Langford 16

Dalton 13

Stearns 13

Stalcup 12

Davis 4

Beard 4

Maupin 2

Twin Lakes Holiday Classic

Clinton County 60

Ballard Memorial 48

Clinton County won it’s second game of the tournament by defeating Ballard Memorial by a final score of 60-48.

The Bulldogs scored 14 in the first quarter, 13 in the second quarter, 14 in the third quarter and 19 in the final period for a total of 60 points for the win.

The Bulldogs shot 17 of 31 for 54.8 percent from the floor, including three of nine from the three point line.

From the foul line, Clinton County hit seven of 11 for 63.6 percent.

The team committed 16 turnovers.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Langford 20

Maupin 11

Stearns 8

Stalcup 8

England 6

Dalton 2

Choate 2

Beard 2

Albertson 1

Clinton County will travel to Allen County/Scottsville from Tuesday through Friday to compete in the South Central Bank Halton Classic.

Its first game was on Tuesday, at 1:30 p.m. against Grayson County, followed by a game on Wednesday against Heath at 5:45 p.m. and a game on Thursday against South Warren at 10 a.m. Clinton County will play host Allen County/Scottsville on Friday at 10:45 a.m.