Clinton beats Patriots in final seconds

By MICKEY ALVARADO

Britton-Deerfield’s Patriots traveled to Clinton to play some serious basketball on Thursday, Dec. 17, and did just that, making the Redskins work their backsides off for a 59-58 Tri-county Conference victory.

The Patriots took a 58-57 lead with a two-point basket by Cody Conner with just 41.9 seconds remaining in the game. Clinton responded with Rick Smith getting his hands on a rebound and dumping it in for two points that put the Redskins ahead (59-58) for the win.

“It stinks losing,” said Britton-Deerfield coach Derren Shiels. “We played well enough to win. We’ve just got to make shots down the end. I mean, we missed the front ends of a couple of one and ones and when it comes down to a one point game all of those little things matter.”

Each team connected on 22 shots from the field but the Redskins made nine free throws to the Patriots’ eight for the one-point difference.

Clinton took a 10-9 lead by the end of the opening quarter but Britton-Deerfield (B-D) closed the first half up 24-21.

“That’s what happens,” said Clinton coach Mike Ruhl. “You have got to have the same focus every game. Tuesday we had it. Tonight I felt like it resembled the Ida game, somewhat, in that we were missing a lot of quality shots, allowing them to hang around and gain confidence.”

B-D and Clinton each scored 21 points in the third quarter, making it a three-point game (45-42) going into the final quarter.

“Good for Britton,” said Ruhl. “They played awesome. Every time we were slightly out of position, they scored on us. We had to hit huge threes and enough clutch free throws to take a late lead. Otherwise, this one could have gone very, very differently and we know it.”

Nate Dreslinski finished the night with a double-double for Clinton (3-1 overall, 2-0 TCC), hitting 13 points and snagging 13 rebounds. Hayden Craig added 12 points while Nic Greenwood had 10 points and three steals.

B-D (1-3) was led by Kiefer Schultheis with 18 points and five assists. Jerek Jeffrey tagged on 12 points and eight rebounds for B-D while Austin Hyatt had eight points and five steals.