By MONTE DUTTON

High-school basketball playoffs remind me of a scene from Hoosiers. The Hickory bus is rolling down a road, fields of corn on both sides, dozens of cars following them to a pulsating soundtrack.

The beat goes on. Clinton High School has two drums. In Class 2A, both teams are in the Upstate semis and state quarters. The boys won on Monday and Friday, the girls on Tuesday and Saturday. The boys, coached by Dontavius Glenn, are 19-8 en route to Lexington, where they play American Leadership Academy (19-8) on Monday at 7 p.m. The game is at Lakeside Middle School, 455 Old Cherokee Road, Lexington).

Monday’s game is to be broadcast on WPCC (96.5-FM, largetime.net). Buddy Bridges and Gene Simmons go on the air at 6:45 p.m.

The Clinton boys advanced past Landrum (52-41) and then Saluda (56-49).

John Gardner’s girls are 27-1. They have been ranked first in class all season. The loss was to West Ashley, the state’s sixth largest public high school. In the playoffs, they have advanced past Liberty (49-18) and Ninety Six (42-28).

Both teams have won 15 straight games. The boys’ 4-8 start had more than a little to do with the absence of athletes still active in the football playoffs, where the Red Devils also reached the third round.

While the boys face their first playoff road game on Monday, the girls earned a third straight at home by methodically eliminating Ninety Six (20-4) on Saturday, drawing further ahead as the game progressed.

Clinton led 9-4 after a quarter, 18-12 at halftime and 31-15 after three. Mylayja Thompson and Kemaria Shelton each scored 14 points.

“I thought we ran our offense, but it was the third quarter before we started finishing things up,” Gardner said. “I told them defense would keep us in it till the shots started falling, that’s what happened.”

Meanwhile, Landrum (22-7) defeated Saluda, 54-42, which had the effect of placing the next game in Clinton at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

All systems were go on Saturday as the Red Devils outrebounded the Wildcats 34-23 and forced them into 21 turnovers while committing 15. Clinton shot .385 (15/39) while Ninety Six was at .257 (9/35), 0/6 in third quarter. Clinton hit 14/29 free throws. Ninety Six sank 8/18.

Emma Gentry and Katie Fortner each scored nine points for the Wildcats.

Also etching the scorebook for the Red Devils were McKenzie Clark with eight points, Allenson Cook with three, Emma Patterson with two and Nah’shia Wright with one.

Presbyterian College is like a box of chocolates, as Forrest Gump would say. You never know what you’re gonna get.

What the Blue Hose got on Saturday was a 66-64 loss to USC Upstate at Hodge Center in Spartanburg. No chocolate-covered cashew. It must have tasted like it was filled with cough syrup.

PC (14-15, 7-7 Big South) can’t build momentum as the championship tournament beckons March 4-8 in Johnson City, Tenn. Karmani Gregory’s jump shot with 35 seconds remaining put the Spartans, up 76-71.  PC’s Carl Parrish splashed a three-pointer 20 seconds later, but the Blue Hose could draw no closer.

At the buzzer, Triston Wilson drew a foul but missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Gregory led Upstate (12-17, 4-10) with 20 points. Carmelo Adkins added 16 and Isaiah Skinner 14.

Parrish put up 20 for the Blue Hose. Jonah Pierce and Jaylen Peterson each added 14.

The Spartans led by 13 points, 47-34, at halftime. PC was coming off a win over Longwood in which it had trailed by 12 at the break.

The Blue Hose lost in spite of shooting .492 from the floor and .467 from beyond the arc. PC committed only seven turnovers but were outrebounded, 35-28, led by nine boards from the Spartans’ Coen Collier. Pierce fouled out with nine seconds left.

PC takes on High Point in a Thursday 7 p.m. game to be televised from Templeton Center on ESPNU.

Take a look at the stats here.

Junior Mario Del Vecchio won an individual wrestling title for Clinton High at the state championships. Juniors Cooper Stinson and Henry Cody took third-place laurels in their weight classes.

“This is something we’ve got to get corrected,” PC head coach Quinton Ferrell said. “It’s more mental than physical. The last two games show it. We ran the same offense. They ran the same plays. In the second half, we just executed better. A lot of times it just comes down to being focused and having the right agenda.”

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Most of my books are available at Amazon. Two of my novels, Cowboys Come Home and Lightning in a Bottle, are available in audio versions.