Hayti downs Clarkton in battle of state-ranked teams

CLARKTON, Mo. -- In a matchup of state-ranked teams, the Hayti Indians accomplished something that very few have over the past three years: travel to Clarkton and come away with a win.

To make this even more impressive, the Indians did so on Clarkton's homecoming night, taking an 84-71 win. With this game being circled on the calandars of basketball fans all around the Bootheel, there was plenty of hype leading up to this meeting of the top team from both the Tri-County and Bootheel Conferences. It's safe to say that this one didn't disappoint as a total of six technical fouls and three ejections provided plenty of excitement.

Hayti was off and running from the start as George Hamilton grabbed the opening tip and took it to the hole for a layup before Clarkton could get back on defense, giving the Indians the first two points of the game. This was the beginning of an 11-2 Hayti run to start the contest that silenced a capacity crowd that was deafening a mere five minutes earlier as Reindeer coach Scottie Blackburn took a much needed timeout.

Clarkton responded in a huge way by turning up the fullcourt pressure and scoring nine straight points to tie the game at 11.

Hayti answered back though, as inside-out threat Jamestic Gooden kicked off what would turn into a performance for the ages as he picked up two steals and six points in the next two minutes to swing the momentum back in the Indians' favor as they outscored Clarkton 22-14 in the opening quarter.

As quarter number two got underway, the intensity of the game reached uncharted waters as a scuffle between Clarkton's Justin Brown and Hayti's Denzel Presberry caused one of the more unfortunate scenes of the year in high school basketball.

Hayti's William Cooper and Jerome Covington, who were on the bench when the shoving match broke out, ran onto the floor, ultimately leading to them being ejected from the contest and a 15-minute stoppage of play in which the officials regained control of the situation despite a chorus of boos from the Clarkton faithful.

Clarkton's Dustin Ferguson made one of the two free throws from the technical foul to cut the Hayti lead to eight points. Another Gooden layup capped off a wild first half in which Hayti took a 34-24 lead into the break.

Clarkton came out of the locker rooms at halftime fired up again as Tolby Richardson and Casey Redden each drained 3-pointers, igniting the Clarkton crowd while trimming the Hayti lead to four. After a free throw, a steal, and a pair of layups from Ferguson, the Reindeer had clawed all the way back to take a 59-58 lead. However, seconds later is where things headed south for Clarkton.

Redden, who began the third quarter with no fouls in the books, picked up his third of the quarter on a blocking call. Redden's reaction to the call led to the official giving Redden a technical foul.

As Redden headed to the bench, another exchange of words gave him his fifth foul of the night, which was also a second technical, causing him to be the third player to be ejected from the contest. After four subsequent free throws from Hayti's Shaun Jones, the Indians regained both the lead and the momentum and they never looked back.

Overshadowed by the controversial nature of the game was the incredible performance of Gooden, who dropped 30 points on the night along with grabbing an astounding 22 rebounds. Gooden put an exclamation point on his career night with a break away dunk in the final quarter to put the icing on the cake of the win.

Despite living by the 3-pointer all year long, the 'Deer died by it Friday night as the they made only three-of-26 (12 percent) from beyond the arc, along with a dismal 13-of-26 (50 percent) from the free-throw line.

Joining Gooden in double digits were Jones and Presberry with 18 and 11 points, respectively.

On the Clarkton side, just as in nearly every game this year, the Reindeer were led in scoring by Ferguson who finished with 20 points, while Richardson had a season-high 18 and DeAngelo White tossed in 10.

The Reindeer travel to Campbell Tuesday for another big rivalry game.