One night after a hard-fought two-point win against conference rival Pontiac Northern, Clarkston basketball head coach Dan Fife was worried how his team would play against Macomb Dakota (9-10) last Wednesday.
‘It’s Senior Night and a lot of emotions get going in your mind and my thought was to make sure we focus on the game and know that this team is coming here to play and we’ve got to compete,? Fife said.
The Wolves (16-3) recovered from a mediocre first half to turn on the jets in the third quarter, pulling away with a 17-9 advantage in the quarter. Heading into the final period with a 14-point lead, Clarkston held on for a 62-46 non-conference win.
‘I thought we were much better in the second half, our moving and our cutting was much harder,? Fife said.
Clarkston’s Dan Owens led all scorers with 21 points. Bren Bergquist had nine points and six rebounds, Oliver Kupe had 13 points, and Kevin Badgley had 10 points for Clarkston.
Owens scored more than 20 points for the second consecutive game after being held to two points against Southfield Lathrup less than a week earlier.
‘It was important for him to re-establish himself mentally. He had to get that one bad night out of his system,? Fife said.
Cougars coach Bill Snyder felt his team came unglued during the game.
‘We had some good individual looks tonight and unfortunately we didn’t have a good team look. We had some players who lost their composure a little bit. We had a couple of kids we were counting on get in foul trouble early through poor play and positioning and that put us in a hole,? Snyder said.
‘Our younger kids played well late, but you have to play a little more than hard to come out with a win against Clarkston.?
The Cougars got an inside presence on defense in the form of team leading scorer Glenn Bryant. The 6-foot- 6-inch sophomore picked up six blocks to go with his team-high 15 points.
‘He’s got long arms and he’s a good jumper with good timing,? Snyder said.
‘We’re still trying to convince him to keep moving toward the ball. He’s still playing like a third scoring option rather than a first option. He’s a great kid and we’re really pleased with the way he’s coming through.?