by Mike Beard

The 16th District Freshmen Basketball Tournament was held Saturday, February 9th, at Cumberland County.

The pairings were set using a blind draw and the draw was for both the girls’ and boys’ brackets. Both Clinton County teams drew Metcalfe County for their first round game which was played at the Cumberland County Middle School.

The boys game was slow in the beginning with both teams having trouble hanging onto the ball and ending the first quarter with the score tied at seven. The Bulldogs picked up the pace somewhat in the second quarter and led at halftime by a score of 19–13.

The Bulldogs were having trouble converting some of their shots, but got to the free throw line in the third quarter several times to extend the lead to 10 points, 32-22, by the end of the period.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Metcalfe County started fouling the Bulldogs with hopes of missed free throws playing to their advantage with the clock stopped.

The strategy worked as the Bulldogs missed nine free throws in the fourth quarter and allowed Metcalfe County to cut the lead to five points.

That was as close as the Hornets ever got and the Clinton County Freshmen Bulldogs won by a final score of, 47–42. Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Michael Collins 15

Colin Langford 13

Brett Gibson 9

Eli Brown 5

Jamison Summers 4

Kyle Choate 1

The Clinton County boys then had to walk across the parking lot to Cumberland County High School where the championship games were held.

Russell County defeated Cumberland County setting up the 16th District title game between Clinton County and Russell County.

The teams had split its regular season games with Russell County winning at Russell County by four points and Clinton County winning the game in Albany by one point.

The championship game started much like the Metcalfe County game for the Bulldogs with missed opportunities on the offensive end.

Russell County led at the end of the first quarter 13-8. The going did not get any better for Clinton County in the second quarter as Russell County pushed their lead to as much as 14 and ended the first half leading by a score of 28-17.

The game quickly changed with the start of the second half as the Bulldogs came out and scored the first 13 points of the half to take a two point lead.

From this point on, the game was back and forth with both teams fighting for the lead. Regulation play ended with the score tied at 44.

It took two overtime periods before the game was decided with the Clinton County Freshmen Bulldogs coming out with a 60-55 win over the Lakers in the championship game.

Individual scoring for Clinton County was:

Michael Collins 20

Colin Langford 19

Brett Gibson 9

Eli Brown 5

Jamison Summers 5

Kyle Choate 2

Members of the 2013 Boys 16th District Champions team are: Eli Brown, Noah Gregory, Kyle Choate, Colin Langford, Jeffrey Collins, Chad Smith, Michael Collins, Jamison Summers, Conner Duvall, Caleb York, and Brett Gibson.

Dawgs win championship in double OT