Our second tournament of the holiday season took us to Allen County Scottsville to play in a round robin format. We were guaranteed 4 games and came away with a 4-0 record and our second tournament championship over Christmas break.
Clinton County came into our game with a 10-0 record and impressive wins over Warren Central and Russell County (both will compete for the 4th region championship). We got off to a great start and led by 6 after the 1st period. At the half we led by 3, 24-21, as we struggled to make shots for the entire period. The 3rd quarter ended with a 36-36 tie but then we scored the first 9 points in the 4th quarter and stretched the lead out to 12 with 3 minutes to play. We did not handle the last 3 minutes very well and we turned it over and gave them opportunities by missing some free throws. Fortunately, we made just enough from the line to come away with the victory. We were lead in scoring by Ethan Saltsman's 16, followed by Ollie Roberts' 13 and Trey Tinsley's 11. Ethan Meredith contributed 8 points and some big free throws down the stretch. Ollie and Ethan shared the rebounding lead with 7 and Ollie and Brady shared the assists lead with 5.
Our second game was against the tournament host Allen Co. We dominated this game inside with our big guys. Ethan and Ollie both posted double doubles. Ethan scored 20 and pulled down 15 rebounds while Ollie scored 20 and pulled down 10 rebounds. Brady Clemons continued his great play by dishing out 7 assists and pulling down 5 rebounds. We won the game 67-52.
Heath High School brought a different challenge for us with their inside game being as potent as ours but we won the game 66-53. We knew our guards would have to be a factor in this game and they were as Ethan Meredith scored 14 points and Brady Clemons scored 10 and also had 5 assists to lead us. Ethan Saltsman scored 18 and he also had 8 rebounds to lead our team.
In the last game of the tournament we played South Warren. We jumped out to a good lead only to see it go back and forth in the second quarter. We led by 3 at the half and stretched it out to a 10 point lead at the end of the 3rd. Our defense was outstanding in the second half as we held South Warren to 10 total points in the half. We won the game 51-34. Ethan Saltsman and Brady Clemons were our 2 leading scorers with 14 and 10 respectively. We had good balance in this game with Ryne and Ollie getting 8 points each and Trey getting 6 and Ethan Meredith getting 5.
Ethan Saltsman was chosen as the Outstanding Player of the Tournament. He was joined by Ollie Roberts and Brady Clemons on the all tournament team.
