Defense and Clarkson-Fueled Second Half Run Carry Flyers into Region X Title Game
Clinging to a two-point lead about seven minutes into the second half of Saturday's Region X tournament semi-final basketball game, a four-point play by point-guard Casey Clarkson triggered a 15-0 Sandhills run.
Central Carolina CC never recovered from the burst and the Flyers (26-5) advanced to Sunday's 1 p.m. championship game at Wake Tech with an 89-67 victory. They will face Davidson County CC (22-6) a 117-83 winner over Johnston CC in Saturday's first semi-final.
"That kind of let us all take a sigh of relief," Flyers' coach Mike Apple said of Clarkson's shot. "I thought we were all kind of tight up to that point because our shots weren't going in and they were making shots. You could see the frustration building up."
A strong defensive effort in the first half by the Flyers helped cause 15 Cougar turnovers. But the benefits of that were offset by 30 per cent shooting from the field, and a 19-point first half by Region X Player of the Year David Thompson.
The Cougar guard, who scored 35 points against the Flyers at the Hangar in January, and 39 against Davidson two weeks ago, accounted for 15 of his team's 22 points over the last six minutes of the half that ended with the Flyers leading 45-42.
Mason Harrell, who finished a ferociously played first 20 minutes one point and one rebound short of a double-double, finished his own miss for the first basket of the second half. But when Thompson made a basket with 13:19 remaining, to complete his 24-point afternoon, the Flyers led 56-54.
That's when Clarkson, who was scoreless to that point, sank the trey, "and one", that was followed in quick succession with threes by Luke Moore and Johnny McFadden, and a conventional three-point play by Harrell.
A moment later, a put-back by Juwaan Childs completed the decisive run making it 71-54.
"The close out was very aggressive," Clarkson said of the Cougar player defending him on the three-point attempt. "He wasn't able to control his feet and he ran right into me. I had the confidence to shoot the ball and it went in."
The beat went on. The 5-foot-7 red-shirt freshman from Southern Guilford High School scored a basket in transition to begin an 8-2 run that included passes to Donnie Haith for a pair of threes that helped swell the advantage to 79-56.
In addition to helping shut down Thompson over the final 13 minutes, Clarkson induced three offensive fouls in the second half and finished with a game-high nine assists.
"I told coach I wanted to guard No. 44 and I would do a great job on him," he said. "I watched a lot of film on him. Without him it was hard for them to score the ball."
Apple was pleased with his team's defensive effort throughout the game.
"They stayed on 54 points for how long?," he asked ( four minutes). "I told them that tonight defense won the game. Tomorrow we're going to have to play good defense and play better offensively."
In between games, Haith, who finished with a team-high 18 points, including four threes, was recognized as the Region X Rookie of the Year. Harrell was credited with 14 points and 12 rebounds. He and fellow sophomore teammate Parrish Stevons were honored as members of the All-Region X team.
Also scoring in double-figures for the Flyers were Moore with 13 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots, and Tavarus Peterson with 10 points and five boards.
Sandhills – Stevons 1 0-0 2, Haith 7 0-1 18, Morrissette-Barnett 1 2-4 4, Garrison 4 0-0 8, Harrell 3 8-12 14, Merriweather 1 0-0 3, Clarkson 2 1-1 6, Sexton 0 0-0 0, McCrimmon 0 2-2 2, McFadden 1 2-2 5, Peterson 4 2-3 10, Moore 5 0-0 13, Copeland 0 0-0 0, Childs 2 0-0 4, Grissett 0 0-0 0 Totals 31 17-25 89. Central Carolina – Thomas 1 1-3 3, Brown 5 0-2 11, North 4 0-0 12, Tolbert 5 2-5 15, Thompson 5 11-14 24, Amerson 0 2-2 2, Monroe 0 0-0 0 Totals 20 16-26 67. Three-point goals: SCC 10 (Haith 4, Moore 3, Clarkson, Merriweather, McFadden).
by Charlie Bergmann
photo by Donna Ford