Clawson Boys Hold On To Beat Marysville, 41-35

CLAWSON – The varsity boys basketball team has no problem winning ugly. 

And that’s exactly what it did against Marysville on Tuesday in a key Macomb Area Conference Silver division game.

Despite scoring only 23 points after the first quarter, the Trojans held on to win 41-35 behind a terrific defensive effort. With the victory, Clawson maintains sole position of first place in the Silver with a 10-1 record overall and 6-0 record in the division. 

The Trojans set the tone early with a 16-3 run to open the game. Clawson forced five straight turnovers after the opening tip and didn’t allow the Vikings to score a field goal for nearly six minutes. 

“That’s what we said we had to do,” Trojans coach Bill Shellenbarger said. “Matt Russell is a fantastic player, Ryan (Biewer) is an absolutely fantastic coach and they are extremely disciplined. The only shot we had was for Tywaun Watkins and Kentrail Holt to make it really, really tough to get any good looks.”

Shellenbarger called the job Watkins and Holt did guarding Russell on the perimeter “inspiring.” The senior guard finished the game with only four points.

But for as good Clawson was on the defensive end, the opposite was true of its offense.

The Trojans only managed two points in the second quarter and only made it to the free-throw line in the first half one time. Making matters worse, Shellenbarger’s team struggled shooting the ball throughout the game.

“We sputtered,” Shellenbarger said. “We shot one free throw in the first half. We were preaching them in the first half, get to the glass!”

Marysville (7-4, 4-2 MAC Silver) was able to cut Clawson’s lead down to three points, 24-21, with 2:06 left in the third quarter. Shellenbarger called a timeout and drew up a perfect play to go inside to James Steffan.

Steffan made a strong move to the basket and scored his only points of the game on a little hook shot. DeShawn Gilbert then stole the ensuing inbound pass and hit a 3-pointer to push the Trojan’s lead to eight, 29-21.

“The defense kept on carrying us,” Shellenbarger said.

Gilbert would hit some key free throws in the final minutes to ice the game. He and Watkins each had 13 points to lead Clawson in scoring. Holt added eight. Marysville didn’t have a single player in double-digits.

The Trojans shift their focus to an equally important game on Friday against a 6-1 Lakeview team. A win would give Clawson a two-game lead in the Silver and control of its own destiny with a month to play.

“We have got our work cut out for us,” Shellenbarger said. “Lakeview is going to press us all day and hopefully we’ve got a little reserve in the tank and we can unload on Friday.”