GLASGOW – Locked in another overtime battle with Barren County, Monroe County junior Chandler Clements put the Falcons on his back.

Clements scored all eight points in overtime, leading Monroe County past the Trojans 55-53 on Friday at Barren County High School.

The junior forward scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half and overtime to give Monroe County (4-1 overall, 1-0 District 15) a key road win in district play. Clements also came up big on the defensive end, holding Barren County’s leading scorer Jared Coomer to four points – no field goals – in the second half.

“To start out 1-0 in the district it is huge,” Clements said. “It was a team effort. Everyone played well. That’s a good team. You talk at the beginning of the season about getting the home games. To get one on the road is phenomenal.”

For the third time in the last four games Monroe County and Barren County needed overtime to decide the winner, with the Falcons able to get the upper hand.

Barren County (3-2, 1-1) jumped out to a 17-10 first-half lead before the Falcons trimmed the deficit to 20-19 by halftime.

Monroe County used an 11-3 run to surge ahead 30-23 in the first three minutes of the second half and continued to keep the Trojans at bay. The lead was 45-40 with 1:44 remaining in regulation when Barren County started its comeback.

Garrett Arterburn’s 3 trimmed the deficit to two, but Clements answered with a pair of free throws to make the score 47-43 with 17.9 seconds left.

Clements and Ty Mink both missed the front ends of 1-and-1s to keep the door open for Barren County, which hit four free throws in the final 17 seconds to tie the score at 47.

The Falcons got one chance to win in regulation, but Mink’s 3 missed the mark.

“You don’t know how frustrating that is, to have a lead with seconds left and not be able to put them away,” Clements said. “We are going to have to work on that.”

Clements got Monroe County started with a shot in the paint in overtime, before Tyler Smith answered with a putback to tie it. Clements scored the next four points to give the Falcons a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, although Monroe County had to make a defensive stand on the final possession to preserve the win – with Brandon Reed’s jumper drawing iron.

“I think Clements made some huge plays for them down the stretch,” Barren County coach Warren Cunningham said. “I told our guys that I didn’t think we lost the game at the end of the fourth or overtime. The game was lost when they made a lot of plays in the third and early in the fourth and we didn’t. He was a big part of that.”

Billy Michael Dyer added 13 points for Monroe County, which shot 55 percent for the game.

“I told the kids it is going to be like this every night in (District 15),” Monroe County coach Steve Kirkpatrick said. “Every game is going to be a dogfight, so (we have to) come to play.”

Coomer and Reed had 13 points each to lead Barren County. Arterburn finished with 12 points and Smith added 10 for the Trojans.

“It’s a long season,” Cunningham said. “We’ve lost two games by a total of three points. If we learn from it and get better then we will be OK.”

Both teams return to action at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Monroe County will host Russell County, while Barren County hosts Caverna.

MCHS – 8 11 14 14 8 – 55

BCHS – 8 12 10 17 6 – 53

MC – Clements 19, Dyer 13, Massingille 7, Kirkpatrick 6, Mink 5, Walker 5.

BC – Coomer 13, Reed 13, Arterburn 12, Smith 10, Stephens 3, Bush 2.

Barren County 49, Monroe County 38, girls

The Trojanettes held Monroe County to 31.3 percent shooting, pulling away in the second half to pick up the program’s first victory against Monroe County since 2011.

Barren County (3-2 overall, 2-0 District 15) also picked up its second district win of the week by beating Allen County-Scottsville in overtime Tuesday.

“It was a huge district win for us,” Barren County coach Piper Lindsey said. “I thought the second half we came out much better than the first half. The first half I don’t know what was really going on with us, but that is in the past and we overcame some of the things that we did in the first half. The scoring was much better and the defense was excellent.”

Monroe County (3-1, 0-1) hung with the Trojanettes for the first half, before Barren County held the Lady Falcons scoreless for 8½ minutes in the second half to take command.

Barren County led by as many as eight points in the first half, but Monroe County closed the second quarter with a 12-4 run – 10 from Ashley Gearlds – to tie the score at 22 at the break.

Gearlds began the second half with a three-point play that pushed the Lady Falcons ahead 25-22, but Barren County scored 14 straight to regain control heading into the fourth quarter.

Monroe County got as close as eight in the final period, but was unable to get any closer.

Elizabeth Bertram led Barren County with 17 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Barren County shot 46.8 percent from the field and had 13 assists on 22 field goals.

“The first half wasn’t very good, we couldn’t execute, but coach Lindsey had a talk with us at halftime and we came out as a team and executed and got the win,” Bertram said.

Gearlds led Monroe County with 19 points.{&end}