Redden lifts Clarkton past Gideon

GIDEON, Mo. -- For the second consecutive Friday night, the Clarkton Reindeer traveled on the road to face a black and gold clad bunch of Bulldogs on their homecoming. Last week it was South Pemiscot; this Friday it was archrival Gideon. In front of a packed house, these two Tri County schools which separated by roughly three miles added another chapter to their already storied rivalry as Clarkton came out on top in a 67-64 thriller.

The 'Deer got a big final period from Casey Redden, who scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter.

Known for his scoring ability and energy, Redden was held scoreless the first three quarters, but made the final eight minutes count on Friday.

With the momentum slipping away from his team, Redden knocked down 3 three-pointers in the final quarter to keep his team in it.

The Reindeer also got an additional 3 from Justin Brown, but numerous turnovers kept Gideon in the ballgame. With Clarkton up by a point and 22 seconds on the clock, it was time for Redden to step up once again as he stepped to the foul line. Redden sank both free throws to stretch Clarkton's lead to three, which led to a Bulldog timeout.

"Casey's 3-pointers and free throws at the end of the game were huge," Clarkton coach Scottie Blackburn said. "He really stepped up for us there."

As the clock ticked away on Gideon's chances, Johnson caught the ball at the top of the key with five seconds to play but wasn't able to get a shot off as he was whistled for traveling.

Much like in Tuesday night's game at Risco, the Reindeer were jumped out of the starting gate as Gideon raced out to an 8-0 lead before Clarkton before coach Scottie Blackburn called a timeout.

Whatever Blackburn said must have connected with his players because as play resumed, Dustin Ferguson went to work knocking down three 3-pointers in the opening period. Teammates Jordan Jones and Jacob Redden also found the mark from deep in the following minutes as Clarkton stormed back to take a 19-16 lead after a quarter of play.

The game continued to be hotly contested in the second quarter as Clarkton's hot shooting from outside carried over, but thanks to the great inside play of senior Max Johnson, the Bulldogs simply would not go away.

After another pair of Ferguson treys in the waning minutes of the half, Clarkton took a 36-30 edge into the half.

The Reindeer went on to make an incredible 13 shots from beyond the arc on the evening.

"We shot well tonight but only when we were in rhythm," Blackburn said. "I think that's why we didn't score quite as many points. We weren't running our offense the way I would like to have. But when we settled down, and got in rhythm, we shot the ball well."

Coming out of the break, Gideon was able to scratch and claw their way back into things in the third quarter as an impressive balanced scoring attack and some defensive adjustments allowed them to tie the game at 49 after three quarters.

As he has in nearly every Clarkton game for the past four years, Ferguson led Clarkton in scoring with 25 points, while Jacob Redden added 11.

Johnson's 17 points paced the Bulldog offense.

Gideon is at Holcomb on Tuesday, while the Reindeer host North Pemiscot.