Coahoma drops nail biter to Clyde Friday night
Above, Coahoma's Ryan Shifflett looks for an open teammate during the Bulldogs varsity game with Clyde on Friday.
For Coahoma head coach Lonnie Burnam, win no. 250 will have to wait. Friday night Coahoma was locked up in a dog fight with the Bulldogs from Clyde and came out on the short end of a 62-56 score in a riveting 6-3A matchup. It was a playoff atmosphere contest that saw both teams enter with a 3-3 district record, tied for fourth place in the district.
Burnam was searching for his 250th career win. But it wasn't to be on this night as Clyde scored the last six points of the game to escape with the win in front of a noisy Coahoma crowd. "Two hundred and fifty is nice but I really didn't care about that. I just wanted that district win," said Burnam.
The game was very important since the three teams ahead of Coahoma; Wall, Jim Ned and San Angelo TLCA were tied for first with 5-1 records. The game was played on even terms throughout. The biggest lead either team had was four points. It all came down to with the game tied at 56-56 with 2:20 remaining.
Clyde's Conner Hawks converted a three-point play and his teammates pieced together three free throws, then played keep way from the Bulldogs the last minute of the game to seal the win. Coahoma hurt its own chances by turning the ball over on two of three possessions in that stretch.
"We had too many trips downcourt without points, without running the offense. We're not good at street ball. When we run our pattern we're pretty good. We took too many threes without somebody down low. When we worked it inside we scored, then we could kick it out for the shot," Burnam said.
The smaller Bulldogs fought hard against the taller Clyde team. Despite being out rebounded they stayed in contention behind the gritty performances of Ryan Shifflett and Billy Bailey who tallied 17 and 15 points respectively. Point guard Boyd Cox contributed 10 points and five assists and Rowdy Atkins and Austin Perkins contributed valuable minutes off the bench.
Atkins made a free throw and got three rebounds. Equally impressive was several nice passes he made that turned into easy
Coahoma baskets. Perkins came in and got four rebounds and scored a basket. As usual Landon Wells battled hard against the high jumping Clyde team. Wells grabbed eight rebounds and blocked two shots.
Coahoma hopes dampened when Shifflett fouled out with one minute remaining. The score was tied at halftime 32-32. Coahoma seized momentum at the end of the third quarter when Cox got a steal and passed to Bailey who nailed a 35-footer at the buzzer, giving Coahoma a 49-46 lead and sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Clyde tormented Coahoma with the play of guards Dayshon Booker and Conner Hawk. Booker led all scorers with 20 points. Hawk finished with 12 points but was totally efficient from the foul line, sinking 8 of 10 the free throws. Burnam said his team is aware of what's ahead in the second half of league play. "The kids played hard. They know what they have to do. They've seen what they can do," Burnam said. Coahoma, 13-10 for the season, will be on the road Tuesday against Ballinger. Clyde improves to 16-8 for the season.
COAHOMA - Ryan Shifflett 7 3 17; Austin Perkins 1 0 2; Rowdy Atkins 0 1 1; Boyd Cox 3 2 10; Devon Bennett 2 4 7; Billy Bailey 6 0 15; Landon Wells 2 1 5; totals 19-57; 6-11 56.
CLYDE - Dayshon Booker 10 0 20; Conner Hawks 2 8 12; Blake Carr 4 1 10; Creed Jamison 2 0 4; Landon Yates 2 3 7; Jarrett Jeffers 4 2 10; Josh Hutton 0 1 1; totals 2556; 11-16 62.
COAHOMA - 15-17-17-07 - 56. CLYDE - 18-14-14 -16 - 62.