Madison County pointed the finger to itself after a frustrating 56-53 home loss to Clarke County. With Eagles dicating the pace on offense in a slow methodical style, the Mountaineers never really found themselves playing their game. On top of that, Madison had a miserable night at the free throw line, and it wound up being the difference on the night as they hit just four of their 18 foul shots, and just three of 13 attempts in the fourth quarter. Even still, they had two chances to force overtime in the final seconds of play, but neither came through.
“I think we still made enough plays to win that game, but it was a very intense physical game,” said Madison coach Ben Breeden. “I felt like we made plays but didn’t convert, didn’t hit our free throws. We never really converted inside especially, and I thought we had a lot of opportunities there. We’ve got to buckle down and be able to finish inside by the basket.”
Going into the fourth quarter it was a 1-point contest with Clarke out front and despite lead changes, neither team led by more than four points in the frame. Down by three at the four minute mark, Bobby Ford equalized the game with a shot from beyond the arc, his fifth 3-pointer of the game. But a three from Eagles guard Ethan Emmart put Clarke out in front with just under 90 seconds left that wound up giving them the lead for good.
“We nipped and tucked the whole way, playing a little gimmick defense on Ford and (Travis Warren),” said Eagle coach Brent Emmart. “I think if we make our foul shots, this game wouldn’t have been as interesting. But that was a good hard fought game, hard fought by both teams.”
Clarke was just a little bit better, but not that much from the free throw line and with 34 seconds to play the lead was 54-50 thanks to a one converted foul shot from Connow Shendow. Madison made it a 2-point game on the ensuing possession on a basket from Clifford Fortune, and after a defensive stop, Travis Warren made it a 1-point deficit on the back end of a pair of free throws with 17 seconds remaining. Clarke took the inbounds pass and broke Madison’s press for an uncontested layup for the final points of the game, but Madison still had enough time to bring the ball down court and try and tie the game on a 3-pointer, it just wouldn’t fall though.
Just like in the fourth, there was little separation between the two teams for the first three quarters. Clarke lead Madison by just one point after both the first and second quarters, and the Mountaineers dug themselves out of a 4-point hole to create a 3-point lead in the third by creating turnovers and getting a layup from Warren, a trey from Ford and a putback from Johs Lillard.
Clarke had a trio find double figures including Todd Benton who had 21 points, David Hardesty with 12 and Emmart with 11.
For Madison, Ford’s 16 points led the way on his five three’s.
“Bobby was big and he’s been working hard on moving more and tonight he had to because they played triangle-and-two on him and Travis.” Breeden said. “I thought he did a great job on that.”
Both Patrick Roebuck and Warren had nine points. Matt Temple added eight.
The Mountaineers (9-6, 5-2) get some time off before hitting the road to play first place George Mason on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Madison took the previous meeting between the two and sits in fourth place in the Bull Run District now behind Mason, Monroe and now Clarke thanks to a tie-breaker. Only one district win separates the Mountaineers from the Mustangs, who handed the Dragons their first BRD loss on Tuesday. Clarke’s fallen to both Monroe and Mason.
