Clark vs. Faith Lutheran 2nd Round Playoff
This second round game was a good match-up.
Key players for Clark are Jalen Hill, Greg Foster, Antwon Jackson, James Bridges and Ian Alexander.
Faith Lutheran has Elijah Kothe, Josh Hong and Jaylen Fox as well as several role players.
Clark and Faith go way back to their old division for smaller schools. The matchup was always a hotly contested one where Clark would win but had to give it everything in order to pull it out. Tonight would be no different as it turns out. The loss of Trey Woodbury meant that Clark had to lean on a few other players to make things happen.
The first quarter was a sign of how tough things would be for Chad Beeten and Clark. Faith came out swinging and punched the Chargers in the mouth. Jaylen Fox and Dalton Kincaid were steady players and got them to a first quarter lead of 17-6. Clark was clearly caught off guard but they clawed their way back by using their big man Antwon Jackson to utilize his shot fakes and post moves to get easy possession baskets. Halftime was there and the score was 25-24 in favor of Faith Lutheran. With Trey Woodbury not in the lineup it was up to Jalen Hill to be a deciding factor. Jalen can take people off the bounce, pull-up for jump shots and finally set up his teammates. That second half is exactly what he did. Jalen did his things with the help of ball screens to setup his shots. The defense on both sides was a factor but it came down to who had players who could make plays. Clark ended up doing that in the duo of Jackson and Hill. When the fourth quarter rolled around it was a done deal and Clark had pulled away and found their way to playoff safety for now.
Stats:
Jalen Hill: 25 points
Antwon Jackson: 15 points
Dalton Kincaid: 17 points
Jaylen Fox: 10 points
Next round
Clark finally gets the last matchup with Gorman for the birth to State playoffs. Despite the three losses before this game, if Clark wins it than they will redeem things and secure a spot to likely be a favorite to win State. However, if Clark loses for the fourth time than it will certainly question whether the Chargers were as good as people thought.