Caden Clark leads way for Eagles with 20-point tourney outburst

Dec 29, 2017 12:02 PM

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COLUMBIA – Civic Memorial's Caden Clark felt that some of the shots the Eagles had missed in the first half of their Wednesday afternoon game against Waterloo Gibault in the Columbia-Freeburg Holiday Tournament would eventually start falling.

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That they did; Clark hit eight of them for the game, along with four free throws, to finish with 20 points for the Eagles in their 54-36 win over the Hawks in their first game of the tournament.

“We missed some easy shots early in the game, shots I feel like we usually make – a lot of layups – but we knew the shots would start to fall in the second half and that's what kind of happened for us and we turned it up on defense,” Clark said after the game. “It's better putting up more points on the board.”

The Eagles were facing a tough test; the Hawks are one of the top small-school teams in the area year in and year out. “They've beat us the past two years,” Clark said. “It felt pretty good to come back and beat them; we were just trying to attack the basket – they didn't really look to stop me on help (defense), so I could just dish off to guys down low. I just tried to get to the basket.”

Getting that first tournament win under their belts was a good feeling for the Eagles. “It feels good starting the tournament 1-0,” Clark said. “We're just looking to build off of that and keep it going.”

The Eagles dropped a 58-55 decision to Freeburg Thursday afternoon and will meet Columbia at 5:30 p.m. Friday; the finals are set for Saturday, with the championship game scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

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