Reprinted courtesy of:
Frankfort Times

Clinton Central's Blake Surber is met by Clinton Prairie's Chris Bandy, Dustin Rusk and Devin Hanna as he tries to go up for a basket in Tuesday's game.
By Phil Friend
Published: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 6:09 AM EST
    MICHIGANTOWN - The skid is over for Clinton Prairie.

    The Gophers ended a six-game losing streak against Clinton Central with a 53-47 victory as Prairie coach Eric Ulrich got two monkeys off his back Tuesday night.

    Along with earning his first victory over Central, it was the Gophers’ first regular-season Hoosier Heartland Conference victory since Jan. 14, 2005 - Ulrich’s first HHC win in his three-year career. In that game, they also beat Central, 53-37.

    “We hung in there and gutted it out,” Ulrich said. “That’s not something we’ve done this year. I think that says something about how far we’ve come. They’re gaining confidence and this is something we hope to build on.”

    In the fourth quarter, Prairie rode the coattails of leading scorer Dustin Rusk. The senior scored 10 of his game-high 20 points in the stanza, hitting 6-of-8 free throws and two key fourth-quarter baskets.

    “It wasn’t all me,” Rusk said. “A lot of it was my teammates getting the ball down low and I was just making moves and getting to the basket.

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    “It’s a great feeling coming in here and winning. They were doing a lot of trash talking since they beat us last time. It’s good to get a conference win.”

    The game’s most controversial play occurred with 50.9 seconds remaining. With Prairie clinging to 47-44 lead - after CC’s Dylan Padgett had just drilled a 3-pointer - Jordan Henry was called for an intentional foul on Devin Hanna. Hanna knocked down both free throws, and two seconds later Jon Beale hit 1-of-2 from the stripe for a 50-44 advantage.

    “We’ve got to foul at that point and the official thought that Jordan hit the kid in the face,” Central coach Joe Smith said. “(Jordan’s) not going to swing and hit somebody in the face in that situation. Regardless, they called the foul and it hurt us at that time.”

    The game went back and forth for much of the second half. Central overcame a 22-21 halftime deficit to lead 29-22 thanks to Henry. The senior hit two 3-pointers and a jumper to give the Bulldogs its biggest lead of the game with 3:57 left in the third.

    But the Gophers slowly chipped away and finally took the lead on a three-point play from Cory Barnett 16 seconds into the fourth quarter.

    The Gophers got an unexpected contribution from Chris Hammel, who hit two short jumpers and forced a Central turnover, leading to a Barnett lay-up - the last of his 16 points - which gave the Gophers a 39-33 lead with 4:43 remaining.

    “That stretch was big for us,” Ulrich said. “I thought it went a long way to changing the momentum of the game.”

    But Central responded with a 6-0 run to tie it at 39 and again at 41 before four Rusk free throws and lay-up stretched the Gophers’ lead to 47-41.

    Barnett scored all of Prairie’s nine points in the first quarter. The hot shooting of Central’s Chad Kingsolver kept the Bulldogs ahead in the second quarter, as his back-to-back 3-pointers pushed them out to a 17-14 lead.

    “We needed to come out with some intensity and I tried to do that,” Barnett said. “We haven’t beaten them since Coach Ulrich started. It’s a big, big relief.”

    Central stayed in the game thanks to its 3-point shooting. The Bulldogs were 8-of-23 for the game from 3-point land, compared to Prairie’s 1-of-12.

    “I don’t know if that was the game plan going in, but they played a zone and kept us outside,” Smiths aid. “It should’ve opened up the inside but we didn’t take advantage of some opportunities.”

    Henry led the Bulldogs with 13 points and Dylan Padgett 12. Kingsolver added nine points.

Clinton Prairie 53, Clinton Central 47

At Clinton Central

Clinton Prairie        9    13    7    24    -    53

Clinton Central    9    12    10    16     -   47

GAME STATISTICS

Clinton Prairie (9-9, 1-3) 53

Hanna 0-3 4-6 4, Beale 0-3 1-5 1, Rusk 7-12 6-9 20, Bandy 1-5 0-0 2, Barnett 6-11 3-3 16, Hammel 3-5 0-2 6, Dirbas 1-1 2-3 4. Totals: 18-40 16-28 53.

Clinton Central (3-14, 1-4) 47

Woodard 1-1 1-4 3, Henry 4-8 3-7 13, Padgett 4-16 2-2 12, Kingsolver 3-10 0-0 9, Surber 2-5 1-4 6, Pohl 1-3 2-2 4, Day 0-0 0-0 0, Light 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-43 9-19 47.

3-point field goals: CP 1-12 (Barnett 1-4, Hanna 0-2, Beale 0-2, Rusk 0-2, Bandy 0-2), CC 8-23 (Kingsolver 3-9, Henry 2-3, Padgett 2-9, Surber 1-2). Rebounds: CP 32 (Rusk 9), CC 27 (Henry 6). Assists: CP 7 (Beale, Bandy 2), CC 7 (Padgett 3). Steals: CP 6 (Bandy, Barnett 2), CC 3 (Woodard 2). Blocks: CP 4 (Rusk 2), CC 1 (Woodard 1). Turnovers: CP 10, CC 8.