Clarke Central High School boys varsity basketball combo guard Marcus Gillespie Jr., a junior, attempts to tip in a layup over a Seckinger High School defender during the Gladiators’ 68-54 loss to the Jaguars. Gillespie’s 37-point performance was rendered immaterial by the rest of the Gladiator offense, which irked Gillespie to the point where he drew a fourth-quarter technical foul. “I was definitely frustrated. I’m not really supposed to show anybody that I’m frustrated but I’m frustrated (my) teammates made turnovers,” Gillespie said. “I don’t like to lose, so I just showed a lot of my emotions on the court.” Photo by Aza Khan
The CCHS boys varsity basketball team lost to Seckinger High School in the team’s last game before their Region 8-AAAAA opener against Flowery Branch High School on Dec. 8.
The Clarke Central High School boys varsity basketball team lost their home contest to Seckinger High School 68-54, dropping Gladiators’ overall record to 1-4.
The Gladiators’ consecutive home losses to Madison County High School and Alcovy High School, but couldn’t turn their fortunes and slipped to their third straight defeat. The loss rendered a 37-point night for combo guard Marcus Gillespie Jr., a junior, immaterial.
“I was definitely frustrated. I’m not really supposed to show anybody that I’m frustrated but I’m frustrated (my) teammates made turnovers,” Gillespie said. “I don’t like to lose, so I just showed a lot of my emotions on the court.”
Much of the team’s offensive struggles came from the players surrounding Gillespie — seniors Laneric Gill, Deangelo Harris and Sam Gilley scored nine, six and two points respectively, but they were the only other Gladiators to make the scoresheet. The Gladiators’ 54-point output left head boys varsity basketball coach Stefan Smith to rue their missed chances on the offensive glass – punctuated by a total of 32 missed layups throughout the game.
Clarke Central High School head boys varsity basketball coach Stefan Smith coaches one of his players during the team’s 68-54 loss to Seckinger High School in the CCHS Competition Gym on Nov. 28. The Gladiators have now lost their last three contests heading into their first Region 8-AAAAA game of the season at home to Flowery Branch High School on Dec. 8, with Smith promising big changes on both sides of the ball. “It looks like we gotta learn defense all over. We did decent in the first half, I was pleased with the first half (and) how we played defense, (but) in the second half we became discombobulated,” Smith said. “You’re not gonna beat people when you miss layups and free throws. That’s just basketball, ever since I’ve been coaching for 20 years.” Photo by Aza Khan
“You’re not gonna beat people when you miss layups and free throws. That’s just basketball, ever since I’ve been coaching for 20 years,” Smith said. “I think our shooting wasn’t on tonight and I just can’t understand that. We wanna shoot the ball as well as we normally do and that was a problem.”
The game started out fast, with the Jaguars jumping out to a 19-12 first-quarter lead they never lost. By halftime, that gap had widened to 13 points, with the Gladiators trailing 35-22.
“It looks like we gotta learn defense all over. We did decent in the first half, I was pleased (in) the first half with how we played defense, (but) in the second half we became discombobulated. A lot of that has to do with continuity, we have got to get our continuity down,” Smith said.
“It looks like we gotta learn defense all over. We did decent in the first half, I was pleased (in) the first half with how we played defense, (but) in the second half we became discombobulated. A lot of that has to do with continuity, we have got to get our continuity down.”
— Stefan Smith,
Varsity basketball coach
CCHS tried to claw their way back into the game, but never were within two scores of their opponents as the Jaguars pulled away late. SHS walked out comfortable winners, leaving the Gladiators 1-4 heading into their first Region 8-AAAAA contest at home to Flowery Branch High School on Dec. 8.
“Before Flowery Branch, at practice we need to go 100% every single rep. I might be a real good player, (but) I still need to go 100% because I still have things I gotta fix,” Gillespie said. “My team needs to go 100%.”
