When the clock finally hit 0:00 on Clements’ 65-61 victory over Tanner on Thursday night, Colts coach Brian Gafford’s biggest emotion was probably was more relief than anything else.

He didn’t feel his team played all that well, but he was happy to get a victory over a perennial North Alabama power.

“Anytime you can beat Tanner, it’s good, because they’re hard to beat,” Gafford said. “If we could’ve rebounded, it wouldn’t have been that close of a game. We got killed on the boards, and we’re a little bigger than them. That’s the bad thing. The good thing is, when we had to make a free throw or something else, we did it.”

Clements took the lead in the first quarter and never relinquished it the remainder of the game, although Tanner got to within one or two points on several occasions.

Clements led 19-17 after one quarter but extended the lead to nine points in the second quarter before settling for a 32-26 halftime advantage.

“In the first half, we had a few chances to get it on up to 12 or 13 points, but we wouldn’t get back on defense,” Gafford said. “We were giving them easy buckets, because we were standing on our butts back here and letting them get layups. And that hurt us.”

Tanner began the third quarter with a 8-2 run to tie the game at 34, and the game remained close from then on.

Clements’ lead never got more than five points, but Tanner could never take the lead themselves. The Rattlers had a final chance to steal a victory in the final minutes. Trailing 62-58, Tanner’s J.J. Jones made a shot to cut the lead to two points with 3:00 remaining.

The Rattlers than got the ball back, and Jones was fouled with 2:05 remaining. He made the first free throw but missed the second. However, Tanner got the offensive rebound and called timeout to set up a play.

The original shot missed, but Tanner once again got an offensive rebound and had a point-blank chance at a layup to take the lead. Tanner missed with less than a minute remaining.

Clements’ Kaleb Fletcher got the rebound and was fouled. He made one of two free throws to give the Colts a two-point lead, and Tanner had one final shot to tie.

However, Zakobe Shoulders’ jumper missed in the final 10 seconds, and Austin Harvell’s two free throws with 1.8 seconds remaining sealed the win for the Colts.

Fletcher led Clements with 21 points and eight rebounds, while Harvell and Shane Starnes both had 15 points for the Colts.

Tanner was led by C.J. Yarbrough with 19 points and Jones with 10.

Tanner girls 57, Clements 51

It hasn’t been a typical successful season for the Tanner girls so far. But coach Jordan Paul hopes with the change of the calendar to 2018, the Rattlers’ fortunes will change. It certainly got off to a good start with a victory over Clements.

“We’ve been on a losing skid,” Paul said. “With player injuries and other things, we haven’t been full strength, and it’s affected our mentality. I told the girls nobody will remember how we start the season as long as we play the way we’re capable of in the new year. We’re now 1-0 in our new season.”

The Rattlers had a slim lead throughout the game and led just 40-38 with 5:45 remaining in the game when they turned up the defense to another level.

Tanner forced three consecutive turnovers and turned them into points as the Rattlers went on a quick 9-0 run to pull out to an 11-point lead. They would not be threatened again.

“I felt like we came out real flat on defense,” Paul said. “I called a timeout (early in the fourth quarter) to remind them of the effort they needed to give. They came out after that and played like they’re expected to. That’s how we have to play. Our best offense is defense. We got a lot of turnovers tonight and didn’t convert on them, so the game stayed closer than it should have until the fourth quarter.”

Nautica Noble led Tanner with 17 points, while Nahriyah Timmons scored 15 and Ikia Mitchell chipped in with 10.

Clements was led by Emrey McGill with 22 points and Rilee Gilliam with 15.