KETTERING – Facing a tall order against perennial state power Dayton Dunbar in the Division II boys sectional opener at Fairmont High School, Clinton-Massie didn’t shrink.
“We weren’t scared of them,” CM head coach Dustin Eads said after his team’s 87-52 season-ending loss Friday. “We came out and attacked. We know Dunbar is very good. We attacked them in transition. We weren’t afraid to shoot the ball. We had some mental mistakes. We had some lazy passes. But we had an attitude of continuing to fight and to help your team anyway you can.”
Massie’s 5-8 freshman guard Daulton Wolfe led all scorers with 21 points, 15 of them coming from behind the arc. Four Wolverines reached double-figures; Terrance Landers led the way with 13.
“It’s his fourth game starting. That’s a kid who worked his tail off in the summer. He was in the gym every day,” Eads said about Wolfe. “It shows now. He put in the time. And because he’s put in the time, he had no fear to go out there against a very good team. He’s going to have a very good four years and it’s because of his work ethic.”
Massie led 6-4 and 8-6, and even after Dunbar scored 16 straight for a 22-8 lead and it looked like the Wolverines would run the Falcons out of the gym, Massie didn’t shrivel.
Massie (7-16) stayed within that 14-point margin until the middle of the second quarter and trailed just 33-23 with 3:27 to go before the intermission. But Dunbar rallied for 10 straight to finish the half with a 43-23 cushion.
Dunbar’s lead hit 30 two minutes into the final period, 71-40, and was as much as 40 with 2:48 left in the contest, 83-43.
Despite the outcome Friday, Eads said his team’s effort against Dunbar (15-7) was typical of what he saw from his team all season.
“I’m proud of how they handled adversity this year. We knew coming in we would have a lot of work ahead of us without much varsity experience coming back,” Eads said. “I’m so proud of how hard we worked every day. We didn’t win as many games as we wanted to, but we won a lot more than people thought we would.
“When adversity hit, we didn’t put our head down. We came back and fought a little harder. I can’t be prouder of a group of boys who didn’t play basketball together until this year.”
SUMMARY
Feb 19, 2016
@Trent Arena
Dunbar 87 Clinton-Massie 52
CM 12.11.12.17…..52
DD 24.19.20.24…..87
(52) CLINTON-MASSIE (fg-ft-tp) Chowning 3-0-8, Greathouse 3-0-7, Myers 0-0-0, Demler 3-2-8, Wolfe 7-2-21, Boyd 0-0-0, Olberding 1-1-3, Raleigh 1-0-3, LeForge 1-0-2, Total 19-5-52. 3-point goals: 9 (Wolfe 5, Chowning 2, Raleigh, Greathouse). FTM-FTA 5-10, 50 percent.
(87) DAYTON DUNBAR (fg-ft-tp) Cook 4-0-12, Beavers 2-4-8, Landers 6-1-13, Uloho 2-1-5, McConnell 5-1-12, Jackson 3-4-10, Strange 2-0-4, Jamison 1-0-2, Baker 4-0-8, Moore-Clansy 1-0-2, Leonard 3-1-7, Thomas 0-0-0, Scates 1-0-2, Craver 1-0-2, Hancock 0-0-0, Total 35-12-87. 3-point goals: 5 (Cook 4, McConnell). FTM-FTA 12-23, 52 percent.
