STRATTANVILLE, Pa. – Using a 17-3 game-opening run, defending District 9 Class 2A champion Clarion-Limestone served notice that they aren’t quite ready to give up their crown beating visiting and previously unbeaten Otto-Eldred, 60-43, Saturday afternoon.
Rewatch the game
The Lions (8-7), winners of five in a row after a 3-7 start, sent notice early that they weren’t going to back down from the Terrors (13-1), who had won 28 regular-season games in a row.
The Triple J attack of Jack Craig, Jack Callen, and Jase Ferguson combined for 15 of the 17 points during the early game-deciding run with Craig scoring six, Callen five, and Ferguson four.
Otto-Eldred only really pushed a couple of times after the early deficit going on a quick 7-0 spurt after the initial deficit to get within 10, 17-10, early in the second quarter before C-L pushed the lead back to 18, 33-15, a halftime thanks to a half-ending 16-5 run.
Kohen Kemmer played a vital role in not allowing the Terrors back in the game before halftime knocking down a pair of second-quarter 3-pointers, including an awkward angle bank shot, and scoring eight of his career-high 16 points in the quarter.
Kemmer, who had never scored in double digits in his career, hit two more triples in the third quarter and was named the Allegheny Grille of Foxburg Player of the Game.
He talked about his career day, the win, and the streaking Lions on the Cole Orthodontic Associates Postgame Interview.
Otto-Eldred had a chance late in the third quarter to make a push cutting the C-L lead to 14, 43-29, and had a chance to make it an 11-point game, but Manning Splain’s 3-pointer rimmed out – something that seemed to happen a lot for the Terrors in the game – and C-L never let the visitors get any closer the rest of the game pushing the lead into the 20s at times during the fourth quarter.
Jack Craig and Callen each added 12 points for C-L with Ferguson scoring 10.
Splain led Otto-Eldred with 13 points with Landon Francis adding 12.
