Clarkton, Cooter face off at C1D1 Final

CLARKTON – Four teams entered Thursday's Class 1 District 1 semifinal round.

Two advanced to Saturday's final.

The No.1-seeded Cooter Wildcats (17-10) defeated No.4-seeded Delta C-7 (Deering) Chargers (9-16) and No.3-seeded Clarkton Reindeer (9-18) edged out No.2-seeded Gideon Bulldogs (8-19) in an upset win.

Cooter Wildcats center Caleb Gunnels (50) goes up for a shot Thursday against Delta C-7 (Deering) Carols �CJ� Wallace at the C1D1 Tournament semifinals at Clarkton.Photo by Steve Hankins

“I thought it was a really hard-fought game between two teams who struggled a little bit scoring,” Gideon head coach Keenan Buchanan said of his team's game against the Reindeer. “Clarkton did a good job on defense.

“I thought we missed a lot of easy shots,” he continued. “That first half, especially. Both teams played great defense. We're young and hopefully we'll figure it out by next year.”

Clarkton grabbed the C1D1 Tournament championship trophy last season and defeated Gideon 48-42 Thursday. The Reindeer face the Cooter Wildcats for the district title at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Cooter's Tyson Banks reaches for the ball at Thursday's C1D1 Semifinal game at Clarkton.Photo by Steve Hankins

“Any time you can make it to the district final you're excited,” McBroom said postgame. “Cooter is a really good team.

“They're going to be super prepared,” he continued. “They're really good offensively. They have a rim-protector. We have to be prepared and be ready.”

That “rim protector” that McBroom described is Wildcat 6'7” center Caleb Gunnels, who led the Wildcats to victory 78-64 against the Delta C-7 (Deering) Chargers, and who tied Clarkton's ace gunner Amauri Gorman as Thursday's top scorer.

Cooter Wildcats head coach David Mathis said his center usually guaranteed scoring in the double digits during every game.

“He's been playing really good,” Mathis said of Gunnels. “He's had 30 about the last three times he's played.

“Hopefully, he'll continue to do that,” the coach added. “He's blocked some shots and had a lot of rebounds. I was super proud of him.”

And McBroom was equally as proud of Gorman.

“Amauri had a great game,” McBroom said. “Gunnels had a great game.

“I think both of them would tell you it's gonna take a total team effort for somebody to win.”

Gorman, who dropped 1,000 points earlier this season and 30 along with Gunnels on Thursday did in fact agree with McBroom.

“We all came into the game confident,” Gorman said of the Reindeer postgame. “I knew Gideon would come in and work on us.”

Clarkton's three-mile rivals the Gideon Bulldogs were up over the Reindeer by three at the half, 16-13.

“Coach McBroom took us in the locker room and gave us that talk,” Gorman noted. “He fired us up and we were ready to go out there again.

“The second half we got our teammates the ball and played as a team,” he added. “We came out, played hard and that's what won us the game.”

Gunnels remarked the Wildcats' contest against the Chargers was “a fun” game.

“We were predicted to win,” Gunnels said. “We were confident of a win coming in.

“Those times where we drove inside insane and get an off-ball,” he said of his favorite memories of the event's more exciting plays. “Then just kick it out to me for a basket.”

Mathis said the Wildcats' semifinal game was solid.

“I thought we started out really good,” Mathis explained. “Then we kinda cooled off and the Chargers got really, really hot in scoring.

“In the second half I thought we played really good defense for five or six minute stretches,” he continued. “We hit some shots and we ended up winning.”

Mathis said his offense strategy was somewhat out of the ordinary compared to his usual.

“We ran a different kind of a dribble attack,”he said. “They were reaching a lot on a lot of stuff.

“We were getting layups and dunk downs in the paint. We tried it and it worked out for us.”

An official's call questioned by McBroom late in the game was cause for a little concern, the coach said.

“He called an illegal screen on Clayton Godsey,” McBroom said. “The official came over and explained what he saw.

“I have no doubt that he called what he called based on what he saw,” McBroom added. “He's calling this game for a reason. He's a really good official. I argued it a little bit. That was spur of the moment in the moment. I have no questions that he called what he thought was the correct call.”

And the Reindeer players gather Friday for their last practice prior to Saturday's final.

“We're gonna do what we gotta do to get prepared,” McBroom mused.”I'm not gonna say much.”

The Bulldogs started Brayden Knapp, Hayden Lacewell, Landon Weaver, Drake Montgomery and Alex Deprow.

The Chargers started Bryce Manley, Devon Stewart, Garrett Lewis, Jaden Rose and Wallace.

The Reindeer started Clayton Godsey, Alex Juarez, Kaleb Guyton, James Johnson and Gorman.

The Wildcats started Ethan Strickland, Tyson Banks, Jayden McLevin, Ryce Lynn and Gunnels.