Clarkton wins close rivalry game over Gideon

CLARKTON - The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat.

The Clarkton Reindeer hosted the Gideon Bulldogs Friday, and celebrated a win and mourned a loss.

The Reindeer varsity team edged out the Bulldogs 45-43 while the Bulldogs JV team whipped the Reindeer JV team 48-25.

Reindeer head coach Cole McBroom said the varsity Bulldogs are "better than their record" (3-9 after Friday's contest), and praised the program's coaching.

"Gideon is long and has some really athletic kids," McBroom noted. "They have a good little guard in the (Bulldogs sophomore guard Brayden) Knapp kid.”

Clarkton guard Amauri Gorman flies toward a Gideon defender and the glass Friday at Clarkton. The Reindeer (4-8) edged past the Bulldogs (3-9) by a goal, 45-43.Photo by Steve Hankins

"We've been working on not turning over the basketball," Coach McBroom said of both the JV and varsity programs. "I told my guys Gideon is a well-coached team whose players know what they're supposed to do and what they're gonna do. We've got to be ready to react, respond and rebound the ball. They are a really good rebounding team."

The Reindeer varsity team started high-scoring senior Amauri Gorman, Alex Juarez, James Johnson, Kaleb Hunter and Clayton Godsey.

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

Reindeer varsity high scorers were Amauri Gorman with 19 points and James Johnson with 10.  Bulldogs' varsity top guns were Hayden Lacewell with 12 and Drake Montgomery with nine points.

Reindeer guard Clayton Godsey bullied his way to the glass and was first to score in the varsity contest, 2-0 Clarkton. James Johnson followed quickly and dropped the first two of his total 10 points, 4-0 Reindeer.

Bulldog junior Hayden Lacewell played a great game, broke up a pass in the closing seconds of the first quarter, stole the ball and lit out for a goal after applying the brakes allowing two defenders to fly over him, 7-4 Gideon.

Lacewell tied the game with a three from the corner, 9-9 with 5:50 left in the second period. By halftime the Bulldogs trailed the Reindeer 14-11 and with 5 seconds left in the third, the Bulldogs trailed by 5, 31-26 with four fouls committed by each program.

With 1:50 left in the final period and score 39-38 Bulldogs, Gideon's Knapp drove inside for a layup, missed, rebounded his own shot and scored a bucket to extend the lead 41-38 Bulldogs.

The Reindeer battled back quickly, flipped the ball to its offense and brought the score to 41-40 Bulldogs with 46 seconds left to play.

Gideon�s Hayden Lacewell blasts off Friday against Clarkton. Photo by Steve Hankins

The clock stopped with 44.9 seconds left in the final period. Play continued, the Reindeer dropped a bucket, a timeout was called with 35.6 seconds left to play and the score 42-41 Reindeer.

With the 5.5 seconds left on the fourth-period timer and Clarkton leading 45-43, the Reindeer called a timeout, the Bulldogs failed to respond with a winning goal and the Reindeer won a nail-biter by one bucket, 45-43.

Gideon AD and head basketball coach Keenan Buchanan heaped praise on the Reindeer.

"They did a really great job of scoring," Buchanan said. "That's something we're really gonna have to work on.

"It was a great game, a tough, physical game," he added. "We just got to put the ball in the hole. We're getting good shots. We're just not making them. It's been this way all year. This is not a one time occurrence. Coach McBroom does a great job with his team, and that was evident here tonight."