Clarkton ends Bell City's chase for state repeat

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Grandma's not alone.

The defending Class 1 state champions also got run over by a Reindeer.

The biggest Reindeer was Clarkton senior Andre Marsh, who scored 30 points and ended Bell City's drive to a second straight to state championship with a 63-60 sectional win Tuesday night at Sikeston High School.

Marsh scored 22 of his points in the first half to help his team off the ropes and into a 10-point lead. Marsh, who transferred from New Madrid County Central in August and who hadn't played organized basketball since his freshman year, added his final eight points in the fourth quarter when the Reindeer won a dog fight with the defending state champions.

"He was super," Bell City coach David Heeb said. "He really took the ball hard to the basket and made a few shot that were really tough shots. And in a big game like this, a guy makes a couple shots like that he starts thinking he's superman. Marsh, he played a great game."

Bell City (24-6) jumped out to a 10-point lead on Clarkton (27-1) just minutes into the game before Marsh steadied the Reindeer.

Bell City held a 16-6 lead midway through the first quarter when Kenyon Wright hit his third of three 25-foot 3-point bombs.

Until that point, Clarkton hit just three of its first 11 shots, committed two turnovers and conjured memories of teams the Cubs disoriented in last year's state run.

"At that time I thought we were going to get blown out, but we didn't," said Clarkton senior David Mathis, who finished with 16 points. "We got in there and figured we could hang with them after a couple baskets."

Naysayers who said Clarkton, ranked third in the state, hadn't played tough competition like Bell City, ranked fifth, looked to be right.

"They say we're 26-1 but we haven't played anybody, but it don't matter, we got the win," Marsh said.

Mathis answered Wright with a 15-foot baseline shot to start a 13-3 run that would tie the score 19-19 by the close of the quarter.

Marsh also began to exert his presence. With Bell City leading 19-10 with 1:58 left in the quarter, Marsh went on a personal 9-0 spurt to tie the score.

Bell City led 26-25 in the second quarter after Johnson scored on a fastbreak layup with 5:40 left, but it would be the Cubs' final points of the half.

Chris White started a 12-0 run with an offensive rebound with 3:12 left in the half. Marsh scored on the Reindeer's final four possessions of the half, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 36-26 halftime lead.

Bell City moved within 36-33 in the opening minutes of the second half on a 3-pointer by all-stater Eric Henry, who finished with 22 points in his final high school game.

Mathis hit two 3-pointers in the next minute to give Clarkton its biggest lead, 44-33, with 4:38 left in the third quarter and the Reindeer took a 45-39 lead into the final period.

The Cubs used a 13-3 burst in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to regain the lead.

"Marsh tired, and it let them back in the game," Clarkton coach Delane Beckwith said.

Randy Conn gave the Cubs their first lead, 51-50, since the second quarter with a 15-footer at the 5:18 mark.

With the score tied 52-52, Dominitrix Johnson gave Bell City its final lead on a free throw with 4:01 left. Michael Ray put Clarkton ahead for good when he scored inside off a pass from Mathis for a 54-53 lead with 3:21 left.

The Reindeer nursed their lead down the stretch by scoring their final seven points at the free-throw line.

Bell City made its final gasp when Ben Duncan scored on an offensive rebound with 13 seconds left to cut the lead to 63-60. Clarkton left the door open when Mathis missed two free throws with 11 seconds left, but a Henry 3-point attempt found iron, and the Cubs weren't able to get off a second attempt.

Clarkton players rushed onto the floor when the buzzer sounded with Bell City trying to kick the ball outside.

"We did this for Risco," Beckwith said, referring to a team that lost to Bell City 124-38 on Feb. 14. "We did this for the Tri-County Conference. We did this for Holcomb and Gideon."

Wright finished with 15 points for Bell City, while Johnson finished with nine points.

"We didn't win a state championship this year, but I told the kids in there that this doesn't make us a failure," Heeb said. "A lot of people are afraid to dream, and if you dream big, sometimes you get your feelings hurt. This one hurt, but we're going to come right back and try to do the same thing next year."

jbreer@semissourian.com

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