First Noah King’s shot missed. Then Tanner Deveans put up the ball on the rebound, but that too failed to fall.
Deveans tried again, but the ball again died on the rim. King collected it over the head of a Mount Markham player and this time, the roll went Clinton’s way and the basket added two more points for the Warriors.
That non-stop effort late in the third quarter helped propel the Warriors to an amazing fourth quarter, expanding their one-possession lead when King made the shot to a 67-51 win over the Mustangs. Clinton won its ninth game and sixth in a row as Coach Mike Hayduk’s team improved to 9-4.
In the first half Clinton started quickly, taking the lead and shutting down the Mustangs from easy shots underneath. About midway through the second quarter, with Clinton up 21-16, Mount Markham began taking 3-pointers with some success, scoring six in the game.
That helped them tie the game at 21-all, although guard Eddie Llanos quickly responded with a jumper to put Clinton back up. Colin Hebbard’s free throw and a 3-pointer by Llanos, who had four in the game towards his 19 points, again put the Warriors up 27-22.
But Mount Markham came back again and with 1:45 left in the first half, tied it at 27-27. Then Deveans, who along with being a 1,000-point scorer is a strong defensive player as well, grabbed an offensive rebound and scored two of his 16 points to break the tie with a basket that turned out to give Clinton the lead for good.
Brody Glindmyer drove in for two more before the half, but a 3-pointer trimmed Clinton’s lead to 31-30.
Glindmyer opened the...