Clinton County’s Bulldogs are headed to Diddle Arena this Thursday night, with hopes of advancing in this week’s 4th Region boys’ basketball tournament.

The Dawgs will take the floor in Bowling Green on Thursday as the Champions of the 16th District, after putting up an A-game effort last Friday night and defeating the top seeded Russell County Lakers in the tournament championship game.

Clinton County held a one-time 21 point margin over the Lakers before coasting to a 12 point, 64-52 victory in front of a sold-out crowd.

It was a standing room only packed Laker gymnasium in Russell Springs for the championship game between Clinton County High School and Russell County High School.

Clinton County’s determination, combined with a huge crowd following and vocal fan support from the opening tip to the final buzzer, resulted in the Bulldogs handing the Lakers a 12-point defeat it will not soon forget.

During the regular season, the Bulldogs had split with Russell County, leaving both teams showing a 5-1 record in district play as they entered last week’s post-season contest.

Russell County picked up the number one seed by winning a coin toss held just before the district tournament.

In opening round action of last week’s 16th District action, the Bulldogs earned their spot in Friday night’s championship game by picking up a Tuesday night win over the Panthers of Cumberland County, 83-50.

The Lakers advanced to the finals of the district tournament by defeating Metcalfe County on Monday, 71-34.

This will be Clinton County’s third trip to the 4th Region Tournament during Head Coach Todd Messer’s tenure, with the last trip coming in 2009-2010, when the Bulldogs advanced to the semi-finals by defeating Allen County/Scottsville in the first round, 40-38.

The Bulldogs eventually lost to 4th Region runners-up Bowling Green, 61-41.

This year, Clinton County will face the runners-up of District 15, the Glasgow Scotties.

Clinton County’s 4th Region opening round game against Glasgow will be played this Thursday, March 1 at 8 p.m., on the campus of Bowling Green’s Western Kentucky University in E.A. Diddle Arena.

The Scotties lost the 15th District finals to Barren County in overtime, 70-67.

This will be the second time this season the Bulldogs will face the Scotties. The last meeting between the two teams, came during the first round of the All “A” Classic Regional Tournament on January 16, where Clinton County lost, 74-63 after being up by nine points in the third quarter.

Clinton County is currently on a five game winning streak with a current record of 24-6 on the year.

Thursday’s game will be the final game of the first round of the regional tournament.
The winner of Thursday night’s game will move on to the semi-finals to play the winner of the game between Russellville and Warren Central.

Other regional games include Bowling Green taking on Logan County followed by Barren County versus Russell County on Wednesday, February 29.

Of the eight teams in this year’s regional tournament, only one team (Russellville 17-11) has less than 20 wins on its resume.

In the 13th District, Logan County defeated Todd County Central 88-73, followed by Russellville winning over Franklin-Simpson, 59-50 in the first round.

The finals of the 13th District, Russellville defeated Logan County 83-79.

In the 14th District, Warren East took South Warren during the play-in game, 38-30.

Warren Central won over Greenwood 46-32, and Bowling Green easily picked up a win over Warren East, 62-33 in the first round of the tournament.

In the finals of the 14th District, Bowling Green grabbed a 10 point victory over Warren Central, 70-60.

In the 15th District, top seeded Glasgow defeated Monroe County, 66-38 and Barren County narrowly escaped a loss to Franklin-Simpson, 53-52 in the first round.

During the finals of the 15th District, Barren County pulled the upset over Glasgow to become district champions by a final score of 70-67 in overtime.

Clinton County will face Glasgow Thursday night in the 4th Region Tournament in Bowling Green at 8:00 p.m.

The post-game celebration Friday night following Clinton County’s 16th District Championship win was long and deserving.

The Bulldogs, after handing host Russell County a 64-52 defeat, were the center of attention during the awards ceremony following the championship game.

Above, Bulldog coach Todd Messer holds up the game ball for the players and fans to see as he heads back toward the sidelines.

Above, Bulldog seniors Wayne Stearns, Derek Albertson, Wendell Maupin and Sawyer Stalcup, took turns cutting down the nets following the championship win.

Above, the 2012 Clinton County Bulldogs with the 16th District Championship trophy.