CELINA-The Clay County Bulldogs advanced to the second round of regional play with a 88-64 shellacking of Watertown here Saturday night, just four days after winning the District 7-A tournament championship.

The Bulldogs topped Pickett County in their conference finals last Tuesday, and hosted Watertown in an opening-round region game on Saturday. They carried a 23-4 record into last night’s Region 4 semifinal against former district foe Red Boiling Springs.

The boys’ region finals are scheduled to be held tomorrow night in Livingston.

REGION 4-A FIRST ROUND

Dawgs………………………………..88

Watertown………………………….64

All five Bulldog starters hit the double-digit scoring mark here at home last Saturday night on their way to blowing out Watertown by 24 points in their opening-round Region 4-A game.

CCHS played like conference champions as they put up an uncharacteristic 88 points versus the Tigers in the quarterfinal game.

Senior forward Shawn Garrett lived up to his billing as District 7-A tournament MVP by leading his team with an impressive 28 points in the effort.

Junior guard Trent Boles was the second leading scorer with 20, senior Brian Korth had 13, and fellow seniors Caleb Lynn and Joe Adams added 10 each.

Garrett scored 16 in the first half as the Dawgs poured in 27 first-quarter points, with their leader dropping in eight, Boles scoring nine, Korth canning a pair of three-pointers, and Adams making his first bucket–all before the first buzzer sounded.

CCHS cooled off a bit in the second period putting 15 more on the board to head into the half with a 42-33 lead, but the slower pace didn’t last long.

The Bulldogs again poured it on in the third outscoring Watertown 26-17 in the opening quarter of the second half.  They finished the Tigers off with a 20-point final period to put up the above-average scoring mark and take the 88-64 win.

The victory landed them in the Region 4-A semifinal game, where they were set to face Red Boiling Springs last night.

With a victory Tuesday night, the Dawgs will be guaranteed a berth into the sectional (sub-state) round set for next Monday night, with the game site to be determined at the Region championship Thursday night in Livingston–winner hosts and loser goes on the road.

DAWGS (88)-S. Garrett 28, T. Boles 20, B. Korth 13, C. Lynn 10, J. Adams 10, M. Copeland 4, A. Cherry 3.

7-A CHAMPIONSHIP

Dawgs……………………64

Pickett County………..49

Senior guard Brian Korth stood tall in the District 7-A Championship game in Livingston last Tuesday night when he led CCHS to their second straight conference title scoring 19 hard-fought points in a battle with rival Pickett County.

“It was real physical,” Korth said in an interview with Robert Holder of the Cookeville Herald-Citizen newspaper.  “Somebody was all up in your shirt the whole game.”

Holder’s article said “by the end of the night, officials had called 55 fouls between the two teams leading to 65 free-throw attempts and two technical fouls,” 18 of which the Dawgs made to help them take the victory in the brutal contest.

The teams were tied at the end of the first at eight, and the Dawgs were down late in the second quarter before sophomore guard Jordan Strong canned back-to-back three-pointers right before the half to help give CCHS a six-point margin at intermission.

The third period was neck and neck with both teams scoring just over a dozen points coming out of halftime, but the Bulldogs poured in 29 fourth-quarter points to come away with the 15-point win and the conference championship.

Korth’s effort was complimented by an even dozen from tournament MVP Shawn Garrett, and Caleb Lynn and Trent Boles both scored 11 to put the Dawgs over the top.

Korth, Boles, and Lynn joined Garrett on the all-tournament team (see related photo) as the Dawgs headed into region play as one of the number one seeds.

DAWGS (64)-B. Korth 19, S. Garrett 12, T. Boles 11, C. Lynn 11, J. Strong 6, A. Roach 2, M. Copeland 2.