The Wolves bounced back from a loss early in the week against Bloomfield Hills to defeat Rochester, 55-41.
‘It was a good win for us,? said Dan Fife, long-time head coach for Clarkston Boys Varsity Basketball. ‘As ugly as it was it was a good win. We needed this.?
The boys started off with a 10-2 run, which was capped off with two field goals from senior Nick Owens before Rochester was sent to the free throw line for two points.
The Falcons put two points on the board from the line and the Wolves took over possession to score nine more points before the first quarter finished. Sophomore Tabin Throgmorton ended the quarter with a field goal, putting the score 19-4.
Rochester outscored the Wolves in the second quarter by one point to put the score 28-14.
‘Coming out in the first half everything was pretty good,? said Fife.
But the tide began to turn as Rochester opened the second half with five points from Mike Murri off a 3-pointer and a basket. Another 3-pointer from Jason Lee closed the gap by six points as they closed in on the Wolves. They scored for more points by the time it hit the mid point of the third quarter.
‘They scored 12 straight points on us and I was going ‘oh, we are in trouble,? Fife admitted.
The fear ended at the 3:45 mark as junior Andrew Myers scored inside to break the scoring drought.
It was the basket which helped the boys turn things around, Fife added.
‘It was finally getting a basket on them,? he laughed.
Owens was next with a basket and one point scored on the free throw line. Throgmorton added two more from the line which would end the quarter, 35-26.
Owens opened the scoring in the final quarter with a 3-pointer as the Wolves added 20 points in the final eight minutes.
‘The best thing was coming back and getting a positive,? Fife added.
Owens led for the night with 19 points with four field goals. Throgmorton added 17 points with two field goals.
‘Owens shot the ball well,? Fife added. He has to slow down on some. He wants to win so bad and play so well he just has to calm down a little bit. But when he makes a shot he calms down.?
The win put Clarkston back into the lead for the OAA Red title but Fife took it as a grain of salt explaining they still had to face league opponents one more time.
The Wolves opened the week with a 74-62 loss at Bloomfield Hills, Jan. 28.
‘They took it to us,? Fife said. ‘We just didn’t play well.
Throgmorton led with 15 points, with two field goals; junior Merrick Canada scored 14 points and Owens had 12 points from four field goals.
The boys head to Southfield-Lathrup on Wednesday at 4 p.m., 19301 West Twelve Mile Road for a make-up game cancelled from Jan. 24.
They are home on Friday as they take on Southfield and head to Pontiac next Tuesday. JV begins at 5:30 p.m., varsity follows.