It certainly didn’t take long for Clinton County to dispatch a weaker and rebuilding Metcalfe County Hornet team Friday night, with the Bulldogs racing out to an early lead and using all 17 players to earn an 89-34 victory.

The 16th District win for the Bulldogs stretched the record to a 3-0 mark in this still young season as the Bulldogs entered this week preparing to face its other two 16th District opponents, Cumberland County on Tuesday night (too late for coverage this week), and Russell County this Friday night.

While Friday night’s contest was with little true excitement for fans, when all was said and done, there were a handful of accomplishments that put Clinton County’s 2012-13 Bulldog squad into the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) record books.

When compiling the final game statistics, it was discovered that Clinton County’s performance Friday night in the Lindle Castle gymnasium, earned the team a couple of “Top 10” spots in the All-Time KHSAA record book for the shooting skills displayed on the local hardwood in the 16th District match up.

Clinton County’s first half floor shooting saw the Bulldogs end the opening two quarters of play with a 26 of 31 effort for an overall 83.8 percent.

That ranks as the second highest field goal shooting effort ever for a single half, according to the KHSAA Record Book.

The single half record is still held by Jackson City when the Tigers put together a 17 for 17 half in 1982 while playing Morgan City to compile a 100 percent shooting effort.

Clinton County’s record book effort came on the Bulldogs’ hitting 24 of 26 of their attempts from two point range, with an added two of five from three point range for the 26 of 31 single-half tally.

The Bulldogs will sit just in front of the now third place effort by Marshall in a 2004 game against Caldwell that saw the Marshalls put together a 76 percent single half shooting effort, hitting 25 of 33 attempts.

For the 32 minute game, Clinton County’s effort Friday night had the Bulldogs finishing with a 38 of 52 attempt night for 73 percent, which will throw the accomplishment into the sixth best performance for a game, according to the KHSAA All-Time records.

The single-game shooting percentage top spot record belongs to the Tigers of Jackson City in that same contest against Marshall back in 1982 when the team finished the contest with a 30 of 35 effort for 85.7 percent.

As for Friday night’s contest, the Hornets of Metcalfe County are clearly going through some serious rebuilding pains this season, and Clinton County’s control of the game came within the first few minutes of play.

Although the Hornets did control an early lead at 5-6, Clinton County quickly found their rhythm and relentless defensive pressure resulted in several first-half steals and uncontested lay ups.

The Bulldogs closed out the first half of play in control of a double-digit lead, 23-13, going on to completely dominate both ends of the floor in the second quarter of action as well, to close out the first half in front of the Hornets by a 27 point margin, 55-23.

As the second half of action got underway, Clinton County Head Coach Todd Messer, who had already used 10 players in the opening half, quickly went to his bench again, eventually giving playing time to all 17 players wearing the varsity uniform.

With the Bulldogs continuing to build on their first half lead, it was on a pair of made free throws by Colby Langford with 6:10 on the third quarter clock that pushed Clinton County beyond the 35 point margin.

That feat also brought about something that had never before been seen, with the first-time implementation of a new rule this season that sets the game into a “running clock” status for the remainder of the contest.

Under the new rule, anytime a team gains a 35 point advantage during the second half, the game clock is then only stopped for shooting fouls, injuries or charged time-outs.

By the end of the third quarter, Clinton County had managed to spread their advantage to a 49 point margin with a 74-25 lead, eventually picking up the 55 point win over the Hornets, 89-34.

Clinton County was led in scoring by Frank England, who finished with 20 points after going to war in the first half with an 18 point effort.

The Bulldogs, putting four players in double figure scoring category, were also boosted by a very unselfish style of play that was highlighted with a double-double accomplishment by Keifer Dalton who finished with 16 points and 14 assists.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

F. England 20

Dalton 16

Colby Langford 14

Claywell 11

Davis 7

Beard 5

Nelson 4

Cook 3

G. England 3

Choate 2

Gibson 2

Colin Langford 2

One of the reasons Clinton County achieved a couple of entries into the KHSAA all-time record book Friday night was the success of it’s full court pressure against the Hornets of Metcalfe County, resulting in a host of steals and wide-open layups. Above, Bulldog Frank England reaches out to slap the basketball away from Colby White while applying back court pressure. England dropped in 18 first half points in Clinton County’s 89-34 win.