Clarkston shakes off rust, rival Lake Orion for 58-40 triumph

[polldaddy poll=5810775]

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

CLARKSTON — If there was ever such a thing as an ugly win, then Clarkston recorded one Tuesday night.

Coming back from a 14-day layoff, the Wolves were everything but a fine-tuned, undefeated, state-ranked team, but had enough to down arch-rival Lake Orion, 58-40, in an OAA boys basketball crossover game.

The Wolves committed an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers and shot a season-low 42.3 percent from the floor (22-for-52) and just 33 percent from outside the arc (4-for-12). Still, Clarkston scored the game’s first nine points and did not allow Lake Orion to cut the lead down to under seven points the whole game.

Clarkston (6-0) used a 12-2 run to start the game and closed with an 8-0 spurt to shake away the taller Dragons.

“I’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss,” smiled Clarkston coach Dan Fife. “We didn’t play particularly well. I thought Lake Orion was a pretty good ball team. Man, are they big (inside). We didn’t see them last year. But they played hard, they played aggressive. Their coach did a good job not having them for very long. I didn’t think this was an 18-point game. It was really more of an 8-10 point game. They made us play their way.”

Junior guard Jordan Dasuqi and senior Nick Tatu did most of the damage for Clarkston and the duo combined to score the Wolves’ first 12 points and 14 of the opening 18 points for the Wolves, who led 18-8 at the end of the first quarter. Clarkston forced 10 turnovers in the first quarter — eight in the first five minutes.

Dasuqi went on to score a game-high 19 points and Tatu added 16 points for the Wolves, which held a 24-22 edge on the boards.

Senior forward Matt Dellinger also reached double figures with 10 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists, while Mitch Baenziger contributed four points, six rebounds, five steals and three assists for Clarkston.

“They had us play the way they had to have us play because we are an experienced team and they young with their new coach,” noted Fife, who started four seniors and has eight on his roster. “I thought their kids played well. We had the nice start to the game.

“They did go inside on us, but everybody we play is going to be bigger than us,” continued Fife. “I don’t think much about size. We just go out and guard.”

Lake Orion trailed 32-22 at the break, and struggled to get the ball inside to its talented front line in the first half. The Dragons committed 16 of their 22 turnovers over the first 16 minutes of play, which put them into a 14-point deficit twice in the second quarter, including 28-14 with 3:09 left in the frame.

Clarkston forced the Dragons into 10 turnovers aboe their average.

“A team like Clarkston will do that to you. They are very well-coached and a very good defensive basketball team,” said first-year Lake Orion coach Tom Risi. “We have been limiting our turnovers to around 12 a game, but not tonight. Our start really hurt us with all of those turnovers. That dictated the whole entire game. Clarkston defends the ball really hard. That’s part of Clarkston’s mantra. They play defense the way you should play defense.”

In the second half, the Dragons continually went inside to 6-foot-8 senior center Brad Watterworth and 6-5 sophomore forward       John McCarty and eventually brought the deficit down to 10 points to 50-40 with 5:40 to play on McCarty’s triple from the top of the arc.

Lake Orion (3-2) could not close down the gap any further.

Watterworth finished with 14 points, going 7-for-9 from the floor, to go along with five rebounds and three blocks. McCarty added 13 points and seven boards for the Dragons.

“I thought we did a better job getting the ball inside and I think we should have a little more,” said Risi. “We talked about using our height to our advantage. We settled down in the second half.”

Lake Orion finished the night only 17-for-42 (40. 5 percent) from the floor and made just one three-pointer. The Dragons only committed three turnovers in the third quarter and three in the fourth after turning the ball over on five of their first six possessions of the game.

“If we could have the first five minutes over again,” laughed Risi.

To submit information to www.northoaklandsports.com, e-mail dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com.  To advertise, e-mail advertising@northoaklandsports.com . Follow us on Twitter @LocalSportsFans and more than a dozen other social media networks.

FOR MORE BASKETBALL COVERAGE: http://northoaklandsports.com/?s=Basketball&x=13&y=12
* Have photos or video of this event that you wish to share? E-mail pertinent information to www.northoaklandsports.com Senior Editor Dan Stickradt at dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com or e-mail results@northoaklandsports.com.

(To report varsity results, e-mail results@northoaklandsports.com or dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com )

Tags: Basketball, boys basketball, Clarkston Boys Basketball, high school boys basketball, Lak eOrion Boys Basketball, OAA Boys Basketball, prep boys basketball

Category: Clarkston, Featured Articles, High School, High School (M-Z), Lake Orion, Prep Wraps