Despite holding a 20-9 first quarter advantage, Clarkston’s basketball team could not stave off sustained Pontiac Northern pressure on the road throughout the rest of their Jan. 6 meeting, losing 64-60.
‘I said before the game we’d find out a lot about our team,? Clarkston Coach Dan Fife said. ‘When they made their run, especially in the second half when they just kept turning it up, I think we just couldn’t answer the bell. I just don’t think we were good enough, we didn’t respond.?
Clarkston built their significant first quarter lead, shooting 7/10 from the field as a team. But, in the second quarter Northern stormed back, out scoring the Wolves 17-9. Clarkston led 29-26 at the break thanks to a buzzer-beating bank shot from sophomore Bren Bergquist, who finished with 11 points in the game.
‘The thing about our kids is they didn’t give up, they kept plugging away and plugging away,? Pontiac Northern Coach Robert Rogers said.
The Huskies came out of the locker room with fire in their eyes, especially junior Timothy Williams who poured in 9 of his 18 points in the third to help Northern take the lead. Though the third featured four ties and five lead changes, Clarkston found themselves trailing 48-42 going into the final quarter of play.
‘What an exciting game, Clarkston came to play, we came to play. We made runs, they made runs. As I told Dan Fife ‘What a chess match this one was,?? Rogers said.
The Huskies effectively captured the Wolves queen midway through the fourth as they extended the lead to 54-46 with just under three minutes to play in the game.
‘Ninety-nine percent of athletics is mental toughness. I felt our psyche was fragile. We missed a couple of shots, things didn’t go our way and we panicked,? Fife said. ‘That’s the great thing about athletics, every time you think you are good, the game will humble you,? Fife said.
Though Northern missed seven of their 16 free throws in the fourth quarter, Clarkston could not whittle the Huskies? lead down completely. The closest the Wolves came was after a steal by senior Joe Rademacher, senior Joe Moran drilled a 3-pointer to make the score 57-54 with :57.2 remaining in the game.
Despite the Huskies poor overall fourth quarter percentage from the charity stripe, they made their shots when the game was on the line, icing the game by making seven straight free throws after Clarkston pulled within 3 points.
Both Rademacher and Moran stood out for the Wolves. Moran sweet stroke netted him a game high 28 points, as he hit on five 3-pointers. Rademacher finished with 10 points, 8 rebounds and 2 steals.
Earlier in the week Clarkston pounded Rochester 58-44 on Jan. 3.
Both Bergquist and junior Dan Owens each scored 14 in the win over the Falcons.
Clarkston’s contest at Groves on Jan. 10 finished too late for this edition of The Clarkston News. The Wolves play next at Pontiac Central on Jan. 17.