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Jones scores 1,000th point to lead Dons into Clarkton Christmas finals
CLARKTON — The Doniphan Dons scored a convincing 58-40 victory over the East Carter Redbirds in the semifinals of the Clarkton Christmas Tournament on Thursday night.
The Dons led throughout the game, combining an aggressive defense with an improved scoring proficiency that built a first half advantage that they stretched to double-digits in the second half, which prevented the Redbirds from staging any sort of comeback.
“That was a complete performance from us,” said Doniphan head coach Hunter Dilbeck. “Defensively, we bought into what we were supposed to do and got it taken care of, and then offensively, shots were falling for us.
“Corey Hagood and Tyler Lowery did a great job controlling pace tonight playing point guards and facilitating the offense, and it was huge to the success we had on that end of the floor.”
Hagood led all scorers with a game-high 20 points, with teammate Emmitt Jones scoring 18 points.
Speaking of Jones, play was stopped in the fourth quarter to honor Jones when he hit the 1,000-point mark for his high school career.
“He’s been a fixture in this program for four years and he’s done so much,” Dilbeck said of Jones. “He played when he was a freshman, and he’s been one of our leading scorers for the past three years. He’s been huge, and I can’t think of a kid that deserves it more than him.”
The Redbirds’ leading scorer was Cason Price with 10 points.
Doniphan improved their record to 5-2, while East Carter fell to 5-3.
Doniphan’s struggles on offense Tuesday on the first night of the tournament disappeared in the first half of their semifinal game. The Dons jumped out to a 10-2 lead with 2:39 left in the first quarter, and they led the Redbirds 15-9 at the start of the second.
East Carter was plagued by turnovers in the first half, which allowed Doniphan to build a 22-11 lead halfway through the second quarter, and the Dons took a 28-20 lead into the locker room at the half.
“We came out flat tonight,” said East Carter head coach Kurt Penn. “It seemed like they wanted to play harder than we did, and we didn’t show up ready to play. Doniphan came out and made shots; they were the harder working team tonight and they wanted it more than we did.”
Hagood opened the second half for Doniphan with a long 3-pointer, followed shortly after by back-to-back triples from Lansing Todd and a steal-and-score from Hagood to drive Dons' lead to 40-26 halfway through the third.
The scoring for both sides went cold for the remainder of the third, with turnovers the main feature on either end of the court. Doniphan ended the period with a 15-point lead at 44-29.
Defense was the feature for the opening of the fourth quarter, with neither team able to penetrate the opponent’s defense for the first four minutes of the period. Jones finally scored on a free throw and a rebound layup to push the Dons’ lead to 47-29.
After sinking two more free throws and another layup, play was stopped when Jones scored his 1,000th career point.
That scoring outburtst by Jones was the momentum the Dons needed for the rest of the game, as their defense and Hagood’s leadership allowed them to pull away for the 18-point win.
Doniphan will play the Risco Tigers on Friday in the championship game, while East Carter will face off against Portageville for third.
“We’ve just got to come in and keep playing our game and hopefully bring the same kind of energy tomorrow night,” Dilbeck said. “If we do, I think we can compete with about anybody.”
The Risco Tigers defeated the Portageville Bulldogs 59-32 in the earlier semifinal game of the night.
The Tigers improved to 6-1, while the Bulldogs fell to 2-4.
Eli Rogers led the Tigers in scoring with 13 points, with teammate Owen Fortner scoring 12 points.
Xayvion Bogan led the Bulldogs with a game-high 16 points.
Tournament hosts Clarkton Reindeer picked up their first win of the season in the Thursday night consolation bracket game with a 69-25 victory over North Pemiscot.
Caleb Redden led the Reindeer with a game-high 22 points.
Clarkton will face Greenville Friday in the fifth place game.