Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, January 31, 2018, 9:04 a.m.

The late Keith Jackson would have called it “a barn burner.”

The neighboring rivals Clinton and Newberry played a boys’ basketball on Tuesday night on the Bulldogs’ home floor that was a triumph of determination for the Red Devils. The 53-51 victory locked the two at the top of Region 3-3A with two games remaining. To borrow a familiar coaching cliché, both teams “got after it.”

Every shot and rebound were fiercely contested. It wasn’t pretty. It was determined. Newberry has one more point in the two games between the two. They may play again if both win their final two games, an extra game being then necessary to settle the region crown. Clinton is at home against Broome and Woodruff. Newberry visits Chapman and Mid-Carolina.

Both Eddie Romines of Clinton and Chad Cary of Newberry substituted heavily. Cary often replaced his whole lineup. The toll of all the full-court pressing was thus alleviated. Another toll was in the statistics. Each team missed 38 shots. The Red Devils hit three more. Forty-two free throws were attempted. Only 27 were made. Clinton committed 32 turnovers, 12 more than Newberry. The Red Devils outrebounded the Bulldogs by nine, 45-36.

At no time did either team lead by more than five points.

After all that, both teams are 13-6 overall and 6-2 in the region. Both teams won on the road, Newberry 71-68 at Clinton on January 12 and Clinton by the aforementioned two on Jan. 30. Neither could have played  harder had they been equipped with clubs. Thank God for modern civilization they weren’t.

At the same time, there were no matches, shoving or shouting, no technical fouls, and no angry exchanges with the referees, all three of whom richly earned their paychecks. Hard games do not have to be dirty. Hard games have to be tough. Every player who trotted on the floor sped up to warp speed when he got there. The Red Devils committed four turnovers in the game’s first minute, but, more to the point of the outcome, forced two in the final one.

Willie Scott Gymnasium has two small tables mounted on the grandstands, one behind the other. The bottom row is open for players to sit while they await entry into the game. One table has the scorebook keepers and the clock operator. The one behind it holds the home team’s radio crew. I sat on the front row between the scorer’s tables and the visitors’ bench. It wasn’t unusual for a player to sit next to me as he waited for a referee’s permission to enter.

Several times I was tempted to speak to a player, but I was afraid he might steal my clipboard and try to pass it to a teammate. In other words, everyone was opportunistic and didn’t pass much judgment on the opportunities. It’s an inspiration for an old man to watch young men try so diligently. Bearing down isn’t readily apparent from behind a keyboard.

But bear down I do. I put lots of effort in the new novel, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, that is up for publication in Amazon’s KindleScout program. Please do me the honor of reading the sample and, if you see fit, nominating it here.

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Three of my novels – Cowboys Come Home, Lightning in a Bottle, and Life Gets Complicated – are for sale in uptown Clinton at L&L Office Supply and Emma Jane’s gift shop.