The jungle nearly wilted on March 11 as the Wolves basketball team edged Grand Blanc 50-47 in the regional final.
On the whole, Clarkston’s camouflage clad student section and the rest of the school’s basketball fans have been doing a lot of nail biting throughout the MHSAA playoffs.
After triumphing over Waterford Mott and Kettering in succession by a combined margin of 10 points in the district tournament, the Wolves gave their fans? nerves the night off by drubbing Brighton 75-53 in the Regional semifinal on March 9.
However, brow sweat and compulsive twitching were back as No. 8 Clarkston found themselves down four points to No. 2 Grand Blanc with 1:00 remaining in the fourth quarter.
‘We kept our composure. We got down, but we didn’t panic,? said Clarkston Coach Dan Fife. ‘Defensively, we didn’t give (Grand Blanc) anything. They worked for all of their shots all night.?
An inch of daylight was all that the Wolves needed as senior Robbie Clark tied the game up at 47 on an ‘and one? field goal and free throw combination. Clark then rebounded Grand Blanc’s missed field goal and went coast to coast to give the Wolves a one point lead.
After another errant Grand Blanc field goal attempt, senior Brad Goodman iced the game with two free throws. Goodman finished with a game high 22 points.
The Wolves state quarterfinal matchup with Saginaw at Saginaw Valley State University on March 15 finished too late for this edition of The Clarkston News. Visit www.clarkstonnews.com and click The Clarkston News link to read the game story on March 16.
In practice this past week Fife has instilled seven on five drill to simulate Saginaw’s full court presses and traps.
‘It’s going to be an up and down ball game,? said Fife. ‘They force you to play their style of basketball.?