Clinton scores 37 to lead Panthers past Franklin Co. (UPDATED)

Kalib Clinton registered a career offensive night for the second time in eight days, and Jackson County won for the first time in region play this season.
Clinton, the team’s star sophomore, scored a career-high 37 points as the Panthers (10-11, 1-8 Region 8-AAA) beat Franklin County 81-72 Tuesday at home and snapped a six-game losing streak. Cam Shaw added 25 points.
Clinton’s 37-point performance came just a week after the sophomore scored a career-high 33 points against Monroe Area. This is the fourth time this season that Clinton has surpassed 30 points in a game.
Coach Chuck Butler said Clinton’s offensive game has expanded.
“He’s been putting in a lot of work working on his outside game, and to see the threes hitting, the one-dribble pull-up jumpers — he hit a couple of them (Tuesday) night, he hit a couple against Monroe (Area),” Butler said.
Clinton hit two 3-pointers in the win, but a sizable portion of those 37 points Tuesday came at the free-throw line, however. Franklin County’s aggressive defensive pressure translated into fouls, and Clinton responded by going 17-of-20 at the free-throw line.
“Kalib kept attacking and it got him on the line a lot,” Butler said.
Meanwhile, Shaw was able to capitalize on the defensive attention paid to Clinton, as well as outside shooting threat Kedric Zimmer, which left open driving lanes.
“It just created some room for him to really facilitate the offense and but also get some points on his own there,” Butler said.
While Clinton and Shaw factored heavily in the victory, their teammates were able to carry the Panthers across the finish line. Clinton left the game with 1:30 left with an ankle injury, and Shaw fouled out with a minute remaining, but Jackson County pulled out the win nevertheless.
“It was a good team effort in the end to execute and to close it out,” Butler said.
The victory over Franklin County (11-11, 4-6 Region 8-AAA) came after the Panthers blew a 20-point halftime lead over the Lions in a 64-57 loss on Dec. 14.
The team celebrated the region win and for atoning for letting that December meeting slip away.
“They were definitely pretty pumped after the game,” Butler said. “Because they wanted to get back a little bit of revenge I guess you would say from that bad second half whenever we had the 20-point lead on Franklin the first go-round.”
The victory also marked the team’s first win in the 2019 portion of the schedule. Jackson County hadn’t won since a finals victory in a holiday tournament in Tennessee in December.
“We definitely had that rut for a little w(hile that started us in that streak,” Butler said. “I had to play psychologist more than I really wanted to on the season.”
The Panthers hope to generate momentum off this win and recapture the momentum it enjoyed back in December when it won the holiday tournament.
“I told them every team is trying to peak at the right time,” Butler said. “Maybe a positive is that we took a little dip there and now we can start working our way back up and playing our best basketball here at the end. Quite honestly with our region, it really doesn’t matter where you get seeded (for the region tournament.) Every team is good.”
Jackson County travels to Morgan County Friday (8:30 p.m.) and Commerce Saturday (6:30 p.m.) before a Tuesday road game with rival East Jackson (7:30 p.m.).