Clarkton boys basketball surges past Cooter 69-54 in second half of Tri-County Conference semifinal

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Clarkton's Caleb Plunkett is guarded by Cooter's Luke Perkins in a semifinal of the Tri-County Conference varsity boys basketball tournament Saturday at Holcomb High School.

HOLCOMB - Clarkton Reindeer boys basketball coach Jordan Bidewell elected to make a defensive change after the Cooter Wildcats won the first two quarters by single digits to build a 34-26 halftime lead.

“I thought our defense was kind of lackadaisical in the first half,” Bidewell said. “I was nervous about that coming in with us playing a day game on a Saturday. Cooter spread us out and took it at us in the first half. I yelled at our kids at halftime and told them we couldn’t guard anyone man to man so we were going to switch our defense.”

Clarkton made up ground quickly following the defensive change. The Reindeer scored the first dozen points of the second half to move ahead 36-34 by 5:32 mark of the third quarter.

No. 2 seeded Clarkton continued to lead 48-47 at the end of the third quarter and won the fourth quarter by 14 points as it eliminated No. 3 seeded Cooter 69-54 in the second semifinal of the Tri-County Conference varsity boys basketball tournament Saturday at Holcomb High School.

“We try to run teams down,” Bidewell said of the finish. “At times we’ve ran 10 guys in and out this season and tonight we used eight. Cooter stayed toe-to-toe with us until the fourth quarter, however. Then we were able to intercept a couple of passes and get some transition buckets late.”

Cooter hit all seven of its 3-pointers before halftime as it outscored the Reindeer 17-16 in the first quarter and won the second quarter 17-10. Dylan Riley made three treys while Rhoads Lynn and Luke Perkins knocked down a pair of treys for Cooter. Perkins finished with a team-high 12 points, Riley tallied 11 points, and Lynn scored eight points.

“We were able to spread them out and hit some shots in the first half,” Cooter coach David Mathis said. “But in the second half we stopped rebounding and once that goes away we get in trouble. That’s been the story of the year. If we rebound we are pretty good and if we don’t we are not. But I was proud of our effort because they beat us pretty bad the first time they played us and we competed much better tonight.”

Hayden Nazarenus was the top scoring threat for Cooter after the break. Nazarenus scored all 10 of his points in the second half on four 2-pointers and a pair of made free throws.

Clarkton got the charity stripe more frequently as the game progressed. The Reindeer made 17 of 21 free throws in the second half after making just 3 of 10 free throws in the first half.

Caleb Plunkett, who paced Clarkton with 27 points, hit 8 of 13 free throws. Izaya Gorman, who also scored in double digits with 19 points, knocked down 7 of 9 free throws for the Reindeer.

“We scored 20 points from the free throw line,” Bidewell said. “And we left some more out there as well. We made enough to win but we missed enough that it could have caused us to lose as well.”

Clarkton(15-8) and Cooter (13-7) both begin play in Class 2, District 1 Feb. 20 at 2 p.m. No. 6 seeded Clarkton plays at No. 3 seeded Hayti and No. 7 seeded Cooter plays at No. 2 seeded Bernie. Clarkton and Cooter would meet again in a district semifinal if they both secure upset-wins in their respective district quarterfinals.

“I don’t know how we will even get to the gym because our roads are awful,” Mathis said. “Luckily, the interstates were clear so we could get to Holcomb today.

"But Bernie is basketball city,” Mathis continued. "Coach Long along with Coach Blankinship and Coach Botsch I’ve always said are three of the best coaches in the state. I know Bernie is only playing five or six kids this year and they are still beating people. They are disciplined, guard well, and don’t care if they win the game 20-15. We’ve got our work cut out for us but we will bring some of our freshmen and sophomores along and try to get after them. Hopefully we can give them a game. You just never know with basketball.”

No. 2 Clarkton 69, No. 3 Cooter 54

COOTER (54) - Carson Swan 2, Dylan Riley 11, Rhoads Lynn 8, Hayden Nazarenus 10, Luke Perkins 12, Luke Barnes 5, Gabe McLevain 6. FG 22, FT 3/9, F 27. (3-pointers: Riley 3, Lynn 2, Perkins 2; Fouled out: Lynn, Nazarenus, Barnes.)

CLARKTON (69) - Caleb Plunkett 27, Izaya Gorman 19, Rica Brown 6, Caleb Underwood 7, Kade Coleman 6, Owen Morgan 4. FG 24, FT 20/31, F 16. (3-pointers: Plunkett 1; Fouled out: None.)