Russellville had a lot more fun in the second go-round with Clinton County. The first meeting required the Panthers to come from behind and win in overtime. The second meeting had laughs and dunks – missed dunks, too – while the Panthers rolled to a 73-49 victory in the Region 4 Boys’ Basketball Tournament on Monday night at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Russellville’s explosive second half made for an easy fourth quarter where coach Phil Todd emptied his bench early with a 30-point lead.

Jaylyn McMurry led four Panthers in double figures with 20 points on a semifinal night where everything seemed to go Russellville’s way. Tuesday night will be much tougher with a championship on the line against the state’s No. 1 team.

With the win, Russellville (22-11) will make its first appearance in the Region 4 title game since 2001 against Bowling Green on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Diddle Arena.

To even have a shot at the Purples, who beat Franklin-Simpson 77-59 in the earlier semifinal game, Russellville will need a similar showing like it had against Clinton County (23-10).

Pedro Bradshaw had 17 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four steals while Micah Naylor scored 14 of his 15 points in the first half. His brother Jacob netted 11 points and Paul Jones added eight.

“We just have to come out ready to play like we do every single night,” Bradshaw said. “Come out and play hard defensively, box out, rebound and have everyone knock down shots like tonight. When everyone is knocking down shots and playing defense, we’re pretty tough to beat. If we can do that (Tuesday), I think we’ll be fine.”

Russellville shot exactly 50 percent in the first half and made 26-of-55 (47.3 percent) shots from the floor for the game. It produced 21 points off 21 Clinton County turnovers, crashed the boards with a 40-34 advantage and edged the Bulldogs 14-6 in second-chance points.

In the first meeting between the two schools in the Region 4 All “A” Classic in January, Clinton County couldn’t miss on 3-pointers and the Panthers had to rally to force overtime.

On Monday night, Bradshaw and company were so comfortable late in the game that even when he missed an uncontested one-handed dunk, he and his teammates laughed about it for the next minute.

It won’t be that relaxed against Bowling Green (30-2), but the Panthers will need a similar execution and more to beat the Purples, a feat it hasn’t accomplished in the last 13 tries dating back to 2008.

But Todd is the last non-District 14 coach to win the Region 4 title with Russellville in 2001. The longtime Panthers coach is retiring at the end of the season. He wants to see his Panthers prove they can take down the best of the 14th District one more time.

Todd would like for his seniors to put that streak to end, not his coaching days.

“Things happen to good people, and I think these are good people,” Todd said. “I just hope something good happens for these seniors up here.

“This team here probably has more talent than that 2001 team. … it’s a different year and a different season. Our fate is (Tuesday) night. Bowling Green is a tough ball team. We want it to be a tough game for them also. We’re going to go out and play and see what happens with them.”

Clinton County found ways to hang around for much of the first half, but Russellville found ways to spread the gap at the end of each quarter.

Russellville led by seven points in the first quarter before Clinton County pulled within 13-11, but Micah Naylor’s triple made it a 16-11 lead for the Panthers going into the second quarter.

Russellvillle stretched its lead to 25-13 before the Bulldogs’ John Davis led a charge to pull within seven points. The Panthers ended the first half on an 11-0 run that was capped by Naylor’s 3-pointer at the buzzer for the 39-22 lead at halftime.

The Panthers shot 14-of-28 (50 percent) in the first half thanks much in part to 11 second-chance points and a 7-1 edge on the offensive glass.

The Bulldogs played a tight defense, but the Panthers were too much to handle at the rim in the first half with a 22-9 rebounding advantage.

“When you’re down and trying to come back and you’re scoring a few buckets and they go on a run, it just kills your spirits and everything you’re trying to do,” Clinton County senior Colin Langford said.

Naylor was 3-for-4 on 3s in the first half and led all scorers with 14 points.

The Panthers kept that momentum rolling in the second half. Shortly after Brett Gibson’s 3 to open the third quarter, Russellville outscored the Bulldogs 18-3 until the 3:01 mark of the quarter. Clinton County committed six turnovers during that stretch. McMurry and Bradshaw turned those into eight points in the third quarter while the Panthers as a whole kept shooting over 50 percent.

Russellville extended the lead by 30 points into the fourth quarter. John Davis led Clinton County off the bench with 20 points.

Now the Panthers prep for the second game against Bowling Green. On the Purples’ Senior Night on Feb. 14, they beat Russellville 93-74. Todd said for his unit to have a chance, defense will have to be tighter against Bowling Green’s talented depth.

“They’ve got a lot of skill players,” Todd said. “We’re just going to go out there and play and hope we can make it a tough ball game for them. They scored 93 points on us the last time we played them and 93 points will not get it (Tuesday night). If we can just cut that thing down about 20 points – how we do it I don’t know – but if we can cut it and keep them from taking off on us, then anything can happen.”

Russellville 16 23 25 9 – 73

Clinton County 11 11 11 16 – 49

RHS – McMurry 20, Bradshaw 17, M. Naylor 15, J. Naylor 11, Jones 8, Mason 2.

CCHS – Davis 20, Harlan 9, Summers 8, Langford 4, Gibson 4, Guffey 2, Hadley 2.{&end}