Ryan Clifton's 21 points and a strong 4th quarter pushes Red Hawks past Bullfrogs

With all eyes on Calaveras’ senior southpaw sensation Jay Clifton, it was freshman Ryan Clifton who stole the show. Behind 21 points from the younger Clifton and a strong fourth quarter, Calaveras knocked off Bret Harte 47-33 on Friday night at Bob Bach Gym in Angels Camp.

“You put so much energy into Jay (Clifton) and (Elijah) Malamed and one of the other three are going to have to step up and it was the little Clifton who was the one to step up,” Bret Harte head coach Brian Barnett said. “And now we are going to have to deal with (Ryan Clifton) that for the next three years.”

When asked about what it was like playing in his first rivalry game against Bret Harte in front of a packed crowd, Ryan Clifton said, “This atmosphere was amazing. Coming from playing in 8th grade to now playing varsity basketball as a freshman that fast is insane. The atmosphere tonight was just crazy.”

Calaveras may have won by 14, but heading into the fourth quarter, Bret Harte had a two-point lead. In a low scoring affair, Bret Harte battled with Calaveras and gave the top team in the Mother Lode League fits for the majority of the night, which came as no surprise to Calaveras head coach Kraig Clifton.

“I never expect an easy game against Bret Harte, and I don’t care where we are in league with our win-loss record,” Kraig Clifton said. “It’s never easy to play Bret Harte. You are dealing with the rivalry, and you are dealing with their effort, and you are dealing with the atmosphere. At the end of the day, they are just kids, and you don’t know how they are going to react in these situations and for most of the game, we didn’t react very well. But we pulled it off and we are finding ways to win, and you have to feel good about that.”

As for Barnett, this is another example of his team playing good basketball for the majority of the night, only to have one rough quarter be the difference between a potential victory and a loss. That quarter against Calaveras came in the fourth, as the Bullfrogs were outscored 21-5.

“We knew that Calaveras is good, but we know what we have, and we have some talent, but it's whether or not we can hold it together for 32 minutes,” Barnett said. “We held it together for the majority of it and Calaveras was able to finish and close out the game. This group has to get to the point of winning games and not the moral victory. We are still right on that crest, just waiting to get over.”

Ryan Clifton was not the only freshman to shine in his first rivalry game. Bret Harte’s Tumiso Owens dazzled those in attendance with a number of clutch shots and strong defensive plays. Owens finished the night tied as Bret Harte’s leading scorer with nine points.

With the future of Ryan Clifton and Owens leading the way for their respective teams over the next number of years, there are sure to be more memorable moments on the hardwood.

“I think it’ll be fun for the fans and maybe not for the coaches,” laughed Kraig Clifton. “He’s (Owens) a heck of a player and he’s got a bright future. But to be honest with you, it’s never just a one-on-one thing. Both freshman classes at Calaveras and Bret Harte are good, so it’s going to be interesting over the next few years.”

The Bullfrogs began the night by jumping out to an 8-5 lead with three points from both senior Kaden Apley and Carston Weidmann and two points from Owens. Calaveras ended the opening quarter on a 5-0 run with three points from senior Thomas Davison and two points from senior Noah Cardenas following a rebound. At the end of the first quarter, Calaveras led 10-8.

Calaveras began to put some separation between itself and Bret Harte in the second quarter after Ryan Clifton hit a 3-point basket and Davison scored in the paint to put the Red Hawks up 17-11 with 2:13 to play before halftime. Bret Harte ended the half with two points from Owens and a basket from downtown from Weidmann and at the midway point, Calaveras had a slim 17-16 lead.

Both teams traded baskets back-and-forth in the third quarter. Bret Harte began the half with points from Apley and Ryan Clifton countered with a 3-point basket. The trend of trading buckets continued until the final 1:34 of the quarter when Bret Harte got back-to-back baskets from Owens and Apley and led 28-26 heading into the final quarter.

Ryan Clifton hit his fifth 3-point basket of the night to begin the final period and Owens responded with two points of his own to put Bret Harte back ahead 30-29. After two free throws from Jay Clifton and points in the paint from junior Corban Curran, Bret Harte’s Jacob Archer scored his only points of the night to bring the Bullfrogs to within one with 5:10 to play.

Following Archer’s basket, Calaveras went on a 12-0 run to put the game away. During the run, Jay Clifton scored six points, Ryan Clifton scored four and Curran scored two. Ryan Clifton finished with a game-high 21 points with five 3-point baskets and went a perfect 4 for 4 from the free throw line.

When asked about Ryan Clifton’s night, Kraig Clifton said, “You don’t expect your best player in this game to be your freshman, but he was tonight for sure.”

Jay Clifton finished the game with 11 points; Davison scored seven; senior Braeden Orlandi and Cardenas both scored two points; and Curran scored four points in the win.

As for Bret Harte, Owens had nine points, two rebounds and one assist; Archer had two points and one assist; junior Walker Maurer had three points, one rebound, one assist and one steal; Weidmann finished with eight points, three rebounds and one assist; Apley had nine points and two boards; Nathan Reeves had four rebounds and one assist; and junior Austin Blodgett had two points and one rebound.

Bret Harte ends the first round of Mother Lode League play with a 1-4 record. Aside from a road loss to Summerville, the Bullfrogs were in every game into the fourth quarter. After seeing what the Mother Lode League has to offer, Barnett feels that his squad can stick with the teams in the league and hopes that a couple of adjustments will lead to better overall outcomes.

“Our league is tough, there’s no doubt about it,” Barnett said. “But we can compete, and we showed in the first round of league that we can compete. In the Summerville game, yeah, we got punched in the mouth, but we didn’t make anything, and we had a lot of good-looking shots. It’s going to come down to making shots and being able to execute. If we can do some little things and tighten things up, then I think we’ll be competitive again.”

Calaveras has now won nine games in a row and 12 of its last 13. And after going 5-0 in the first round of league play, Kraig Clifton wants his players to view the second part of league play as a brand-new season.

“We are 0-0 right now,” he said.