By By Fredie Carmichael/Special to The Star
Feb. 14, 2001
With Clarkdale head coach Ronny Roberts set to hang up the towel at the end of the season, the Bulldogs made sure there would be no goodbyes exchanged Tuesday night as they defeated Taylorsville 42-34 in the finale of second-night action at the Division 7-2A Tournament.
The Tigers of Newton lived up to their No. 1seeding as they waxed Seminary, 78-48 in Tuesday's other boys' game.
Clarkdale boys 42, Taylorsville 34: Clarkdale used tenacious defense and a patient offense to knock off third-seeded Taylorsville on the Bulldogs' home floor. The win gave Roberts his first postseason win in quite some time, and another day to coach.
The Tartars got on the scoreboard first as Jermaine Keyes took the opening tip and laid it in to give them the 2-0 lead.
Richard Mathews answered on Clarkdale's second possession as he hit nothing but net from the3-point line to give the Bulldogs the lead at 3-2 with 6:51 to play in the first quarter.
Josh Bogan hit a trey as the buzzer sounded to end the first period and Taylorsville took a 15-10 edge at the end of one.
Only a combined nine points were registered in the second quarter as Taylorsville led 19-15 at the break. The Tartars stretched the lead to 19-10 with 4:54 to go in the second period, before Clarkdale buckled down on defense and managed to squirm out five straight points to end the half.
Mathews' free throw with 1:08 left in the third quarter tied the game at 27-27 before Taylorsville's Bogan hit another buzzer-beating 3-pointer to put the Tartars up 30-27 with one period remaining.
With 5:32 left in the game, Clarkdale got a big play from Mathews who fought through a crowd of defenders to claim a rebound and put it in the hole giving the Bulldogs a 31-30 lead.
After more intense defense by both teams, the Tartars' Corey Booth scored a bucket underneath to give the lead back to Taylorsville, 32-31, with 3:45 left in the game.
Clarkdale's Anthony Holliday took over from there as he came away with some gritty rebounds and connected on 9-of-11 free throws down the stretch to give the Bulldogs the 42-34 victory.
Mathews was the leading scorer for the Bulldogs with 16. Holliday added 15. Taylorsville was paced by Bogan's 14.
Clarkdale will face Bay Springs on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. in a semi-final game.
Newton boys 78, Seminary 48: Newton proved it deserved the tournament's top seed as it blistered Seminary.
The Tigers wasted no time as they knocked the bottom out of the net in the first quarter and led 31-4 at the end of one. Mario Qualls led the way for Newton with 15 points in the first quarter alone.
There was more of the same in the second period as Newton used a tough man-to-man full-court defense and took a 52-20 lead into the locker room.
Seminary took advantage of a cold shooting spell by the Tigers in the third quarter as the Bulldogs mounted a small comeback. Chris Smith led the charge for Seminary as he hit three 3's and the Bulldogs cut it to 60-36.
Qualls' 26 paced the Tigers while Lance Pruitt chipped in with 17. Smith had 19 for Seminary. Corey Cooley and Shannon Smith added 12 apiece.
Newton will face Morton at 5:30 on Thursday in semifinal action.