One of the things Clarkston basketball coach Dan Fife stresses to his team is there are no off-nights in Oakland Activities Association Division I.
The Wolves proved that point Friday night, upsetting the previously undefeated Pontiac Northern Huskies 60-55. The win improved Clarkston’s record to 5-5 overall and 2-0 in OAA I.
Clarkston came back from a 34-27 halftime deficit to pull out the win. The Wolves outscored the Huskies 14-10 in the third quarter to pull within three, 44-41, at the end of the period.
The Wolves took the lead for good when Kyle Rademacher drained a three-pointer (one of three on the evening for Rademacher, who finished with 11 points) with 4:45 left in the fourth. Clarkston then held off the Huskies the rest of the way, connecting on five-of-eight free throws down the stretch.
“I told our kids if we stay with it mentally, they’d give us an opportunity to stay in the game,” Fife said. “They just hung in there mentally. We did a really good job of doing what we needed to do in the second half.”
The Wolves’ three-point shooting was critical to the win, as they connected on seven shots from long distance. The three-pointer was critical to the Wolves taking a 15-13 lead at the end of the first, as Mark Thornberry (who had 12 points to lead Clarkston) connected on two shots from downtown, while Rademacher added another three.
“Mark Thornberry’s always been a good shooter,” Fife said. “Rademacher’s a good stand-still shooter. Those are shots they make in practice.”
However, the Huskies, keyed by James Smith (who led all scorers with 18 points), scored six straight points to open the second period. Smith’s basket with 5:43 left in the second put Northern up 19-18. The Huskies would continue to light the scoreboard, outscoring Clarkston 15-9 in the rest of the second quarter to take the halftime lead.
While Fife acknowledge the team “missed several easy shots” in the second, he was confident in the team’s ability to come back.
In particular, he believed the fact he’s used several starting lineups this season worked to the Wolves’ advantage against the Huskies. Besides Thornberry and Rademacher, the Wolves received offensive contributions from Justin Whetstone (10 points), Chris Johnston (10 points) and Robbie Clark (eight points).
“They’re able to come in and play at a high level,” Fife said.
Three days earlier, the Wolves were on the winning end of a blowout against visiting Troy, routing the Colts 75-49.
The Wolves started out strong, taking a 16-10 lead against the Colts at the end of the first quarter. Clarkston stepped it up in the second quarter, outscoring the Colts 20-10 to take a 36-20 halftime lead, as junior forward Chris Johnston scored all of his team-leading 18 points in the first half.
The game turned even more one-sided for Clarkston in the third quarter, as they blew out the Colts 26-12 in that period, taking a 30-point lead, 62-32, at the end of the third.
Senior Justin Whetstone added 13 points for Clarkston, while sophomore Brad Goodman finished with 10 points and sophomore Robbie Clark added nine.
The Wolves returned to action Tuesday as the traveled to Pontiac Central for a league game against the Chiefs. They return home Friday for a game against Southfield, beginning at 7 p.m., then travel to Southfield Lathrup for a Jan. 28 contest.