Clinton stuns Brandon with late run to advance to MHSAA 6A Championship
JACKSON — There was nary a soul in the Mississippi Coliseum that gave defending 6A Champion Clinton much of a chance in the waning minutes of Wednesday's 6A Semifinal game against Brandon.
The Arrows were down 13 points with three minutes left in the fourth quarter, their star forward Kimani Hamilton had just fouled out and the Bulldogs had suffocated them defensively for most of the second half.
But if nobody else was giving them a chance, Clinton still believed. Allen Hughes and Ashten Michael stepped up, and the Arrows ended the game on a 18-3 run to rally past Brandon 62-59 in the Semifinal Round of the MHSAA Boys Class 6A playoffs on Wednesday night.
Clinton (22-5) will face Olive Branch for the Boys Class 6A State Championship at 7 p.m. Saturday night.
“When Ashten made those free throws (at the end) I knew we were fine, and Allen Hughes is the leader of this team on the floor, and he stepped up big time,” said Clinton coach Leonard Taylor. “These guys on this team, I will go to war with anybody. It’s all about next man up, and these guys will not stop fighting until the final buzzer.”
Until the end, it was a tale of two halves. Clinton held a 18-14 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 29-24 lead at halftime.
But Brandon dominated the third quarter, out-scoring the Arrows 23-10 to take a 47-39 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs extended their lead to 12 at 56-44 with just over three minutes left in the game.
Hamilton — a Mississippi State signee who played a huge role on the 2021 Championship team — fouled out with just over two minutes left, and Brandon’s Ismail Rashid made one of two free throws to give the Bulldogs a 57-48 lead.
From there, Clinton went on a 18-3 run, highlighted by a lay-up by Allen Hughes with 44 seconds left to take a 60-59 and Ashten Michael-Neal hit a pair of free throws with nine seconds left to give the Arrows the 62-59.
“These boys just refuse to lose. They came to the sideline and just kept believing and fortunate enough to win it,” Taylor said. “These guys are a blessing and I’m just so excited that we get to play one more game and it’s for a gold ball.”
The potential game-tying three-point shot by Brandon was partially blocked and missed at the buzzer.
Hughes finished with 17 points to lead Clinton.
“We just kept fighting and get back in the game. That’s all we know to do is fight,” Hughes said. “They made runs, we made runs and got back in the game and finished it off and now we’re headed for a two-peat.”
Neal added 16 points for Clinton, while Hamilton finished with 12 points.
“My teammates were like 'We got your back, we’re going to get it done,' and that’s what happened,” Hamilton said. “I was speechless. It was a team effort, they all came together and came out with a win. We never give up.”
Marcel Bridges had 23 points for Brandon (26-7), Ismail Rashid chipped in 15.
“It was missed opportunities. We missed lay-ups, free throws and just what could go wrong went wrong,” said Brandon coach Fred Barnes. “We couldn’t capitalize from the free throw line and hats off to Clinton for continuing to fight and coming away with the win.”
