Clinton, South Carolina, Wednesday, February 7, 9:33 a.m.

For the second consecutive game night at Clinton High School Gymnasium, both varsity basketball games were decided by the same margin. On Friday, the boys and girls both beat Broome by 11. Last night, the boys won, but the girls lost, both by eight.

Coincidence? Definitely.

The regular season has been extended by ties. Last night the teams played Woodruff. On Thursday, the teams play in Woodruff, but not against the Wolverines. Woodruff is the neutral floor for a pair of games required to set Region 3-3A playoff seedings. The girls will break a tie with Chapman for the three seed at 6 p.m., and the boys will will settle the region championship against Newberry at roughly 7:30.

Clinton and Newberry could hardly be better matched. Both teams are 15-6 overall and 8-2 in the region. In their two meetings, each won on the road. Newberry won in Clinton, 71-68, and Clinton won in Newberry, 53-51. Thus did Newberry score one more point.

In almost two seasons as boys’ basketball coach at Clinton, Eddie Romines’ record is 36-10 overall and 18-2 in Region 3-3A. A year ago, the Red Devils advanced all the way to the upstate finals before falling to Southside (Greenville) at Bon Secours Arena, which is nicknamed “The Well” because everything has to have a nickname in an age in which corporate naming rights change as often as coaches.

I’m looking forward to the trip up to Woodruff because the previous games between Clinton and Newberry were probably the two most intense basketball teams I’ve seen this year. I like both coaches. Eddie and I have known each for most of our lives. When I was in high school and college, it was almost impossible to go to the Clinton Family YMCA without finding Eddie there, practicing by himself or playing in pickup games against whoever happened to show up. We’ve never been close friends, but we’ve always been friendly.

I like Chad Cary, too. I interviewed him after Clinton won the game in Newberry last week. My job is to stress the local teams, but I’ve never bought the notion that local readers don’t care what the other team’s coach says. Sometimes logistics makes it impossible. The priority is obviously the local coach. While I’m waiting for him, the other coach may get on the bus and head home. It’s no big deal if I miss him, but I try to catch him if the nature of the game is compelling and I have some curiosity regarding what he has to say.

Sometimes the nature of a game matches the nature of those who are watching. Last night I wasn’t particularly excited about the evening. The crowd’s interest was mainly in honoring the seniors at the last scheduled home game. Woodruff, while a longtime Clinton rival, was at the bottom of the boys’ basketball standings, and the Red Devils were at the top.

The most amazing aspect of the boys’ game was that one of the Red Devils’ better players, J.D. Payne, whom I had interviewed after the Broome game, failed to score a point. Those who didn’t consult the scorebook may not have noticed. He didn’t play badly. He just didn’t score. When I mentioned it in the locker room, neither Eddie nor assistant Josh Bridges had noticed.

Clinton won, 57-49, and Woodruff never got closer than six, and the Red Devils were looking ahead to Newberry. I was looking ahead to Newberry. The crowd was looking ahead. On Thursday, the team will be ready, as will I and the crowd. The people who sat in the stands and whispered to each other that the boys weren’t “ready to play” will probably whisper in Woodruff that they “came to play,” and in both instances, the cliches will be exactly the way cliches always are.

Newberry is bigger. Clinton is a tad more graceful. Both are deep. Both teams will play so hard on defense that lots of shots will be missed. Lots of fouls will be called. Who wins? I can’t say. The game is as much a tossup as the way the game will begin.
Clinton’s boys’ team has established itself as a power. The girls are getting better. John Gardner’s team has won twice as many games as last year, and his first team won twice as many as the year before. It’ll be a tossup, too. Both Clinton and Newberry will play in the first round of the playoffs at home. Both Clinton and Chapman will play on the road.

There you have it. As I’ve heard many NASCAR figures say over the years, “It is what it is at the end of the day.”

Or night.

Here’s my GoLaurens.com report of the games against Woodruff.

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