The Greenwood boys’ basketball team took advantage of a Clinton County squad missing its star player, and downed the previously unbeaten Bulldogs 73-48 on Saturday at South Warren High School.

Clinton County was without WKU signee Jackson Harlan, who sat out with back spasms after suffering a fall in Friday’s win over Metcalfe County, and Greenwood (1-2) benefited with a balanced scoring attack and a barrage of 3-point shooting to bounce back from a last-second loss at Allen County-Scottsville on Thursday.

“That’s a really big, physical team and that was a good win for us,” Greenwood coach Bob Pels said. “We really needed that one. We have started the year loading up against some pretty good teams and that first win is always the hardest one. I’m just really pleased with the way they kept their energy up the whole game.”

Clinton County (4-1) was able to keep it close for a half before the Gators pulled away.

Greenwood never trailed, hitting eight 3-pointers in the first half – including Ben Carroll’s 3 after a Clinton County turnover with two seconds left that made the score 33-25.

A 3 by Isaac Stansbury to open the second half gave Greenwood its first double-digit lead of the game, and the Gators put the game away with a 14-0 third-quarter run that gave GHS a commanding 53-30 lead. The Bulldogs were unable to get closer than 18 points the rest of the way.

“Give my kids credit,” Clinton County coach Todd Messer said. “I thought the first half they played well and competed. They were in a tough spot. We had 20 minutes to try and put together a game plan. What Jackson does is so much focus goes to him that it gives other people the opportunity to have shots in their comfort zone. Without him I had to shift people around.”

Stansbury led Greenwood with 19 points, hitting four 3s. Jack Roberts added 15 points, while Carroll finished with 14 points. The Gators shot 54.2 percent from the field, 12-for-27 from 3-point range.

“It was a great win,” Stansbury said. “We had a game plan coming out for Jackson. We were hoping he was going to play. It would have been a great opportunity to guard him, but those other guys were ready to play. (Seth Stockton) had a great game. He was hard to keep off the boards, but played great team defense.”

Stockton led Clinton County with 21 points and 12 boards.

Greenwood will open District 14 play at Bowling Green at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

CCHS 10 15 9 14 – 48

GHS 13 20 23 17 – 73

CC – Stockton 21, Brown 7, Stones 5, Dearborn 4, Madison 4, Cross 3, Pruitt 3, Wright 1.

GHS – I. Stansbury 19, Roberts 15, Carroll 14, N. Stansbury 9, Williams 5, Potter 3, Morrison 3, Upright 3, Hoephner 2.

Warren East 76, Apollo 41

The Raiders hit 14 3-pointers to cruise past Apollo and improve to 3-2 on the season.

Ryan Carter led Warren East with 19 points. Adante Barber finished with 11 points.

Warren East will play at Franklin-Simpson at 7:30 p.m. Monday.{&end}