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Risco downs Dons to win Clarkton Christmas Tournament
CLARKTON — The Risco Tigers defeated the Doniphan Dons 82-53 to claim the championship of the Clarkton Christmas Tournament on Friday night.
Doniphan played with grit and effort, never giving up in the game, — but Risco was taller, faster, and more physical than the Dons, especially on the offensive side, where their rebounding and inside shooting dominated the scoreboard.
“Risco is a really good ball club, and hats off to them,” said Doniphan coach Hunter Dilbeck. “They played very well and shot the ball extremely well.”
The Tigers improved their record to 6-1 on the season with the victory, while the Dons fell to 5-3. Both teams will appear next week in the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
The first quarter began with a flurry of scoring, with Doniphan jumping out to an early 6-2 lead that Risco quickly tied and then pulled ahead. A six-point run for the Tigers gave them a 16-11 advantage at the end of the first.
Risco continued to dominate on the offensive boards, turning missed shots into second and third opportunities that connected to give them a 26-18 lead halfway through the second quarter.
Doniphan guards Emmitt Jones and Corey Hagood fought through the lane to try to bring the Dons closer, but Risco’s shooting sent them into halftime with a 37-26 lead.
Hagood, Jones, and Lansing Todd combined to bring Doniphan back to within six points at 47-41 with four minutes left in the third quarter. But Risco’s Sammy Smith hit a 3-pointer plus a foul shot to give the Tigers back a 10-point lead.
Smith proved to be too much for Doniphan to overcome, hitting on a series of 3-point shots, layups, and assists to give Risco a 61-44 lead going into the final quarter.
“For us, it’s awesome that we got here, but defensively I think we just we had a lot of mistakes,” Dilbeck said. “We kept letting the same thing happen over and over to us, and we just never made the adjustments that we needed to make.”
The Tigers pulled away in the final period, outscoring the Dons 21-9, punctuated by Smith’s slam dunk on a breakaway with 3:30 left the play that had the big pro-Risco crowd at Clarkton roaring in support.
Risco’s Smith led all scorers with 35 points, while teammate Owen Fortner scored 21. Doniphan’s scoring was led by Hagood with 22 points and Jones with 16.
This was the second consecutive year that Risco won first place at the Clarkton Christmas Tournament.
Earlier, the Portageville Bulldogs claimed third place at the tournament with a 48-44 victory over the East Carter Redbirds in the second game of the night.
Portageville led for most of the game, up 30-26 at the half. Down by seven points in the third quarter, East Carter tied the game and then took its only lead with a 3-pointer, but the Bulldogs tied it on their next possession with their own triple, and the third quarter ended tied at 38.
The Bulldogs regained the lead in the fourth, and while the Redbirds got within two points on a few occasions, they were unable to regain the lead.
Portageville’s Antonio Hickenbottom led all scorers with 22 points.
East Carter’s leading scorer was Bryce Stahl with 14 points.
At the beginning of the evening, the Greenville Bears beat the host Clarkton Reindeer 64-51 to claim fifth place at the tournament.
Greenville’s leading scorer was Cooper Sturgeon, who put in a game-high 19 points.
Clarkton was led by Kaleb Guyton with 14 points.