DOWN TO THE WIRE

Hosting Grandview for do-or-die showdown to earn a postseason berth in the District 17-3A finale, the Clifton boys basketball team comes up short in the fourth quarter

Good to the last game, the young Clifton Cub boys basketball team went into their District 17-3A finale with everything on the line. Still alive in the chase for a playoff berth, the Cubs faced a must-win matchup by hosting Grandview needing a win to force a district playoff game for fourth place and the final postseason spot.

Despite going into the fourth quarter leading by a point, the inexperienced Cubs could not finish the job as Grandview rallied to come from behind and escape with a 65-56 victory last Tuesday night in the Clifton High School gymnasium.

“We were right where we wanted to be going into the final period,” Clifton boys basketball head coach Tom Daniel said. “But Grandview came out and took it away from us. We’ve been talking about how close this district was going to be all season long. I was convinced it would come right down to the last game – the last day of the season. As it turned out, it came down to the last quarter in the last game. It can’t get much more exciting than that.”

Junior Andres Devora produced a double-double to lead the Cubs with 18 points and dishing out 10 assists, followed by sophomore Joaquin De la Hoya with 15 points as well as junior Jacob Wells with 13 points and five assists. Senior Jadyn Simmons and sophomore Brody Baggett led Clifton with five rebounds each, while senior Makail Brandenberger dished out three assists and came up with a team-high three steals.

With the win eliminating the Cubs (5-7 in district, 11-17 overall), Grandview (7-5, 20-13) locked down the fourth place and final playoff berth coming out of District 17-3A behind district champion Whitney (10-2, 21-11), while Maypearl (9-3, 21-12) and Keene (3-3, 25-8) wrapped up the regular season tied, forcing a second-place playoff game at 7 p.m. Friday at Waxahachie Life High School.

Although last Friday’s game at Keene wasn’t a must-win situation, Clifton could have secured at least a tie for fourth place with a win over Chargers. But Keene came out with a hot hand by sinking a flurry of three-pointers to jump out to a commanding 23-8 lead in the first quarter on the way to a convincing 62-26 victory. Sophomore Ray Ochoa led the Cubs with five points, followed by Brandenberger and Baggett with four points and six rebounds each.

But prior to the road loss at Keene, Clifton won back-to-back games to move back into postseason contention. Clifton dominated Harmony School of Innovation, 54-12, jumping out to a commanding 17-3 first quarter lead and never looking back.

With 12 different Clifton players scoring points, De la Hoya led the Cubs with eight points, followed by sophomore Maddox Hinojosa with seven points and five rebounds while sophomore Kyle Rogers tossed in seven points. Junior Riley Davis led Clifton on the boards with eight rebounds while sophomore Jonah Payne dished out four assists and Devora came up with four steals.

“It was good for us,” Daniel said. “Some guys that don’t get to play much for us played most of the game and we brought a few JV kids up to get a little bit of varsity experience. It was a fun game.”

As predicted, the battle for postseason berths in District 17-3A came down to the final night of the regular season. And headed down the home stretch, the Cubs remained right in the middle of it. Hoping to snap a three-game losing streak and climb back into contention, the Cubs won a do-or-die showdown against the West Trojans, 54-49, on Feb. 2 at the Clifton High School gymnasium, a crucial postponed matchup moved from Jan. 31 due to the icy winter weather event across North and Central Texas.

“The boys really stepped up for a big game,” Daniel said. “It was interesting circumstances for both teams being off for a few days because of all of the ice. So, the beginning of the game was not pretty, but I thought our guys settled in well. After being down by a point at halftime, we came out in the second half and really controlled the third quarter, and we were able to hold our lead. It was a really big win for us.”

Trailing by one at halftime, the Cubs outscored West, 20-14, in the third period before battling in the fourth to hang on for the crucial win. Devora produced team-highs in scoring with 14 points and rebounding with seven boards while dishing out four assists and coming up with two blocks.

Baggett added eight points, followed by Wells with six points, four assists and four steals, and De la Hoya with six points and four assists. Payne contributed seven points, while Ochoa grabbed a team-high seven steals against the Trojans.

Facing the top two teams in the district the previous week, the Cubs dropped a decisive 61-44 decision at home against the second place Maypearl Panthers Jan. 24 before battling to a disappointing 60-55 loss to the arch-rival and league-leading Whitney Wildcats on the road Jan. 27.

Opening the second round of district, Maypearl jumped out to a commanding 24-8 lead in the first quarter and never looked back as the Cubs trailed 36-22 at halftime. After the Panthers extended their advantage to 20 points in the third period, Clifton rallied in the fourth, but it proved too little, too late.

Devora and Ochoa led the Cubs with 10 points apiece, followed by Wells with seven, as well as Baggett and Payne with five each.

Falling behind early at Whitney last Friday night, the Cubs battled the entire game to stay close but trailing by eight after three quarters of play. Even though Clifton outscored Whitney, 19-16, in the final period, the Cub rally fell short. Sinking six three-point shots, Wells led Clifton with a game-high 24 points, followed by Devora with 11, Ochoa with eight and Baggett with six.

Using an impressive defensive display, the Cubs surprised Keene, 31-26, the first time the two teams met in district Jan. 17 to create a four-team tie for second place. But on the road three nights later, Clifton struggled from the opening tipoff in a 79-44 loss against the Grandview Zebras to wrap up the first round of district.

Against Keene, the Cubs held onto a one-point lead at halftime and fell back into a deadlock at the end of the third period before outscoring the Chargers, 8-3, down the stretch in the fourth to pull out the crucial victory. Clifton used 18 steals to slow down Keene’s ability to score, limiting the number of shots they put up.

“There wasn’t a lot of scoring in the game,” Daniel said. “It was Keene’s lowest scoring game of the season. It happened to be ours too, but luckily, we had a few more than they did.”

Baggett led Clifton with 10 points, seven rebounds and seven steals, followed by Devora with nine points, a team-high nine rebounds, four assists and four steals. De la Hoya also pulled down nine rebounds while dishing out four assists, and Ochoa collected five steals.

“We turned the ball over too much, and didn’t shoot the ball great,” Daniel said. “But we made up for it with great effort on the defensive end. Without a doubt, it was out best defensive game of the season. In the second half, we only gave up eight points against a pretty good team.”

Photos by SIMONE WICHERS-VOSS