Clawson Loses Last Season Game to Clarenceville

In the last regular season game Tuesday night, the boys basketball team lost 61-51 to Clarenceville.

After a tightly contested first 25 minutes of the game, the action took a turn when referees called a double-technical foul on Clawson. The nip and tuck contest was tied after three quarters at 37 points when senior Eric Thompson fouled Clarenceville's Damien Quarles on his way to the basket. Thompson made a comment to the referee that immediately got him a technical foul. The two fouls put Thompson on the bench with his quota of five.

At that point, Clawson head coach Bill Shellenbarger Jr. spoke with the referee and was also called for a technical foul.

Quarles swished five of his six free throws to put Clarenceville up 42-37. Shellenbarger was dismayed after the game.

"They had six free throws because one of our players made a mistake and I made a mistake and I was surprised that I got called for that based on what I said," Shellenbarger said. "I said, 'I asked you a question, sir.' And he didn't like that. I don't swear on the sideline. I don't degrade them."

Shellenbarger sighed that the "mistakes led to a bevy of free throws that they made."

After the five-point swing on the score board, Clawson dug in as junior James Steffen made a steal which led to two free throws by senior Steve O'Connell to narrow the gap to 42-39. Steffen again helped stop a Clarenceville possession with a block but a turnover and Clawson foul put Quarles back on the line to rebuild the lead to five, 44-39. Stephan had another block but Clawson couldn't keep the offensive heat going and could never get the lead back under four points.

"I wanted to help the team win but we're gonna keep our head high on this loss," Steffen said. After the technicals, Steffen said he was "trying to get the team focused, don't worry about what's happening, just focus and win this game."

Clawson kept working the floor but couldn't hit key shots and had to foul down the stretch. Shellenbarger switched from his 1-2-2 zone defense to a man-t0-man to try and keep Clarenceville from running out the clock but nothing worked as Quarles kept scoring free throws, building the lead to a final 61-51.

Clawson shot 10-13 from the free throw line for 77 percent, but put Clarenceville on the free throw line 37 times where they converted 19 for 51 percent.

"It was a mistake and that's not what I teach my kids," Shellenbarger said of his technical foul. "And it created a gap that we couldn't overcome."

The team was 16-41 in field goals for 39 percent and missed too many basic shots, Shellenbarger said.

"We have to make lay-ups and get some stops," he said. "We missed lay-up after lay-up after lay-up."

The team was only 3-16 from the three point line for 19 percent and only had three assists in the game. One steal and six blocks helped the team but the 12 turnovers kept the offense out of sync.

The loss comes after a high-flying week for the boys team where it wrapped up its first district title since 1995 in epic fashion.

"Phenomenal week," Shellenbarger said. "It was great for the city, great for the team and great for our program. It was one of the greatest days of my life."

The team clinched the title last Wednesday with "an at the buzzer win" over Clintondale. "You can't ask to script it any better," Shellenbarger said.

Looking ahead to the playoffs, Shellenbarger said he knows he has to find the Clawson team who won the district title and not the one that showed up tonight.

"We gotta look in the mirror and check our egos at the door," he said.

But Shellenbarger has led the team in the right direction in his three seasons as coach. They collected eight wins his freshman season, 11 his second year and 14 this year with a league title to boot.

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