The boy’s in blue had it all figured out Monday night, and executed very well for around two and a half quarters until Glasgow got a little momentium, and a few calls, to come back from a nine point deficit and defeat Clinton County by 11 points, 74-63, in the opening round of the All “A” Classic Regional Tournament.

In what was said to be the championship game of the All “A”, Monday night’s matchup against Glasgow was a battle to the end, despite what the final score says.

All “A” Classic Regional

Clinton County 63

Glasgow 74

The Bulldogs went into Monday night’s regional opener ranked 17th in the state, according to Dave Cantrell’s ratings in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

That ranking moved the Bulldogs up from the 23rd spot last week.

Glasgow was coming off two losses, one to district rival Allen County-Scottsville and another to regional powerhouse Warren Central.

After Monday night’s loss, the Bulldogs move to 15-2 on the season.

In the opening quarter of the first round of the regional battle, Clinton County’s first two points came from the free throw line, as did Glasgow’s.

After two minutes had ticked away, Wayne Stearns drove the lane and was fouled while making the basket. He went to the line and made a free throw to put the Bulldogs’ up by three, 5-2.

Glasgow came back and tied the score at five and made two free throws to take a one point lead.

Stearns again drove the ball to the goal and was fouled. He capitalized on the three point play to put the Dawgs up by two with 4:14 on the clock, 8-6.

The score was tied again on a putback made by Glasgow, but again, Stearns put two more points on the board for the Bulldogs for a two point lead, 10-8.

After the Bulldogs’ got the jitters out of the way, they started playing Clinton County basketball.

The first quarter would see three more ties until the final 27 seconds when Landford stepped to the line and made two foul shots for a 16-14, end of the first quarter lead.

The Bulldogs drew first blood in the second quarter as Landford hit a shot to send the Bulldogs up by four, 18-14.

Glasgow cut the lead to two points on the following trip, but two foul shots by Wendell Maupin sent the Bulldogs back up by four points.

Glasgow hit its first three pointer with 6:22 on the clock to get to within one point. A foul sent Keifer Dalton to the line where he hit one of two, 21-19.

The Scotties hit a free throw to cut the score to one with 5:09 remaining in the half, but four straight free throws by Langford gave the Bulldogs its biggest lead of the game at five points, 25-20.

Glasgow came back and cut the lead to two points but a three pointer by Sawyer Stalcup sent the Bulldogs into scoring mode.

Following a Glasgow basket, Stalcup again knocked down a three pointer for a six point lead midway into the second quarter, 31-25.

The Scotties made a field goal to cut the lead to four, but a three pointer by Langford sent the Bullodgs up by seven with 2:51 on the clock.

Glasgow finished the half with a field goal and two free throws but Clinton County finished with field goal and a free throw to start the second half with a six point lead, 37-31.

At the start of the third quarter, Dalton picked up his fourth foul as Glasgow made three free throws in the first minute to cut the lead to three points, 37-34.

The Bulldogs put together a 6-0 run with field goals by Stearns, Stalcup and Langford, for a nine point advantage, 43-34. At this point the wheels started to fall off for Clinton County.

During the next three minutes, Clinton County only scored four points compared to Glasgow’s 10 points, to cut the lead to three with 3:03 on the clock.

Glasgow scored a field goal and hit two free throws to take the lead at 48-47, but two shots made from the line by Ryan Beard gave the Bulldogs the lead, 49-48.

The ninth lead change of the game came when Glasgow hit two from the line with 1:24 on the clock, 50-49, and the tenth lead change came when Langford answered with two from the line, 51-50, Dawgs up by one.

Glasgow tied the score at 51 on one of two from the line with 29 seconds remaining in the period. Dalton came back into the game and with time running out, he drove the lane and put up a shot to take the two point lead at the end of the quarter, 53-51.

During the fourth quarter, Clinton County went cold from the floor. During the first four minutes of the period, Clinton County only hit two free throws. Maupin made a layup with 4:11 on the clock in order to cut Glasgows three point lead to one, 58-57.

A field goal by Glasgow pushed the lead back to three, but a layup by Dalton cut the lead back to one. Langford went to the line the next trip down the floor and made one of two to tie the game at 60 with 3:07 on the clock.

At this point, Clinton County was still in the game, but the Dawgs went the next two minutes and 21 seconds without scoring while Glasgow put up 12 points, most of which coming from the foul line.

Glasgow led the game by 12 points with 37 seconds remaining before Beard knocked down a three pointer to cut the lead to nine. Glasgow hit a field goal with 20 seconds on the clock to reach the final score of 74-63.

Clinton County hit 18 of 47 from the floor for 38.3 percent, including four of 14 from the three point line. From the foul line, the Bulldogs made 23 of 29 for 79.3 percent.

The Bulldogs committed 14 turnovers compared to Glasgow’s 15, but lost the rebounding battle, 39-25.

Indivdual scoring for Clinton County was:

Langford 22

Stalcup 12

Stearns 10

Dalton 8

Beard 5

Maupin 4

Davis 2

Clinton County 90

Cumberland County 43

The Bulldogs didn’t have much trouble with Cumberland County on Tuesday, January 10, as the Panthers came into The Castle for its second meeting with the Bulldogs.

Clinton County improved its record to 15-1 with the 47 point win over the Panthers, 90-43.

During the first meeting between the two teams, Clinton County opened the game with a 36-8 first quarter lead and finished with a 92-47 win.

The Bulldogs didn’t open Tuesday night’s game as hot as the December game, but Clinton County did put up 25 points in the first quarter and held Cumberland County to only 12.

As the second quarter got underway, Clinton County maintained it’s fire and several other players stepped up and took control, including Joe Davis who hit three three pointers and finished the first half with 14 points for the Bulldogs.

Ryan Beard also came off the bench and knocked down two three pointers from the top of the circle for six points.

Without all the other players figuring in the scoring, Beard and Davis combined for 20 points in the first half and Cumberland County scored 22 as a team.

Clinton County led at half time, 51-22.

The Bulldogs’ weakest quarter came after halftime as the third quarter got underway.

Although Clinton County didn’t let up on defense, allowing Cumberland County to score only nine points, the baskets weren’t falling in the third period. Clinton County scored 15 points in the third to lead by 35 points with one quarter remaining.

Probably the most important quarter of the game came as the fourth quarter got underway. With a well established lead, Head Coach Todd Messer pulled his starters and placed some of his bench in the game. Clinton County’s bench came in and scored 24 points in the final quarter, which included every single player wearing a Bulldog jersey.

Ethan Cook came off the bench and scored 10 points, eight of which came during the first 1:32 he was on the floor, knocking down two three pointers and a layup.

The rest of Clinton County’s bench contributed to the 90-point final as every player dressing for the Dawgs scored at least one point.

As the final buzzer sounded, Clinton County picked up its 15th win of the season, 90-43.

Clinton County hit 13 three pointers during its game against the Panthers, accounting for 39 of the final 90 points.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Stalcup 20

Davis 14

Dalton 11

Cook 10

Beard 8

Maupin 7

Langford 6

Tallent 3

Perdue 2

Choate 2

England 2

Claywell 2

Stearns 2

Albertson 1

The Bulldogs will be back in action on Saturday night as Jackson County comes into town. As of Tuesday, January 17, the game will be a boys’ varsity and junior varsity with tip off beginning around 5 p.m.

One change to the schedule, the February 6 home game against Glasgow has been dropped and replaced with an away game against Russell County in order to makeup the game cancelled Friday night. That game will be a junior varsity/varsity game with a 6 p.m. tip off.

Log on to www.clintonnews.net for updates on Saturday night’s game.