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The Wyoming Valley Clutch’s run through the American Basketball Association playoffs came to an end Saturday night, falling victim to a hot shooting performance from the Binghamton Bulldogs and losing 118-105 in the East Region semifinals.
The Bulldogs made 14 three-pointers as a team, and were finally able to take control of the game late in the third quarter after the two playoff teams battled back-and-forth for much of the early going.
Late in the game, it felt like every time the Clutch might find the juice to make a run, a Bulldog got himself open for a score.
“We detached from their shooters too hard off ball-screen action, and they made us pay,” Clutch coach Jerry Rickrode said. “The big kid played well for them inside, he created a little bit of a problem and they got open threes off of that.”
The “big kid” in question was Bulldogs forward Brandon Hathaway, who not only used his size to control the glass but was able to step outside and knock down the three ball when left open.
Hathaway finished with 21 points on seven three-pointers — four of which came in a fourth-quarter run that effectively put any chances of a Clutch comeback to bed. The Bulldogs were led by Jakigh Dottin, who had a game-high 30 points.
The Clutch beat Binghamton in both of their prior meetings this season, but the two teams looked very evenly matched for much of the night, with the defenses dictating much of the action in the first half.
It was a one-point lead for the Clutch after one, and a two-point lead heading into halftime. The Bulldogs came out of the half with a 6-0 run right out of the gate, and that flipped the momentum toward the visiting team, even as the two teams continued to trade leads back-and-forth for a while.
The Bulldogs turned a one-point lead at the first media timeout of the third quarter into a seven-point lead with about three minutes to go, and never trailed again.
A big part of Wyoming Valley’s early success was the work of Hasiin Dixon, who thrived in the midrange and scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half.
Including Dixon, the Clutch had six scorers in double figures, with Will Johnson adding 16 points to finish second behind Dixon.
The loss was the Clutch’s first since Jan. 14, snapping a 10-game winning streak to finish with a record of 16-3.