CC delivers major basketball upset

The Clarendon College Bulldogs delivered a stunning upset here last Thursday night when they defeated the team ranked number one in the nation and sent Howard College home with its first loss of the season.

The final score in Bulldog Gym was 86-80 in favor of the home team, and Coach Tony Starnes said he was just as surprised as everybody else.

 “We were down six points at the half, and we were down two players, so we did it all without our normal rotation,” Starnes said. “Our kids just responded. Howard got into foul trouble; and we made our plays, sank some critical shots, and stepped up to the plate.”

Starnes citied Pat Joseph, André Johnson, Rick Hamilton, Andy Hulsey, and Darrell D. Brownlow for their performance but said no one player was responsible for the upset victory. Due to injuries and other issues, the Bulldog squad was down to 11 men, and they all got to play.

It wasn’t the first dramatic win for the Bulldogs this season, having beaten number five San Jacinto in a tournament earlier; but thumping Howard was a sweet way for the CC men to end their season and claim some bragging rights.

“Howard has a legitimate shot at winning the national title, and now we hope they win it,” Starnes said. “They were 29-0, and now they’re 29-1.”

Howard College is coached by former CC coach Mark Adams, and he has four or five players who are being courted by Division I universities, Starnes said.

The Bulldogs began their conference season pretty well, going 4-3 in the first round, Starnes said. But he said his team hadn’t played well in the last three weeks.

If Odessa College had fallen to New Mexico Military last week, CC still could have gone on to the regional tournament; but Starnes knew NMMI wasn’t strong enough to do that.

“We all knew it would be our last game,” Starnes said. “So we just got down to it, and everyone played well.”

Starnes said he’d like the town to focus on the CC women now, who are ranked third in their league and will head to the regional tournament this Friday. The Lady Bulldogs will play Weatherford at 5 p.m. at Lubbock Christian University.