Clements coach Brian Gafford has been telling standout player Austin Harvell he needs to shoot more. On Monday, Harvell heeded that advice and it helped lead to a big victory.

Harvell scored 27 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in his best personal performance of the season as the Colts overcame a halftime deficit to defeat Danville 72-56.

“I’ve got to shoot more shots,” Harvell said. “That’s what Coach has been telling me, so I’ve been practicing my shot lately and putting up every shot I can.”

Harvell hit four 3-pointers in the first half and wound up with five for the game to go along with his rebounding and inside play. About the only thing he didn’t excel at was free-throw shooting, as he was only 4-of-8 from the line.

“I jammed my finger a little bit, so I couldn’t hit a free throw,” he said. “But I was more consistent from 3 tonight and aggressive rebounding.”

Clements’ 3-point shooting was about the only thing keeping the Colts in the game in the first half. Clements hit nine 3-pointers in the half but still trailed 36-33 at the break due to several defensive breakdowns in transition.

Gafford said those breakdowns were corrected at halftime, and the Colts responded by holding Danville to just 20 second-half points.

“In the first half, we weren’t getting back on defense,” Gafford said. “We were giving them probably 10 or 12 points in transition because we didn’t get back. At halftime, the message was, ‘You had better get your tails back on defense and make them earn it.’ In the second half, we got back and they didn’t hit shots.”

Harvell scored the first four points of the second half to give the Colts the lead, and after Danville tied the score at 39, Lucas Bailey hit a 3-pointer to give Clements a lead it would not relinquish the remainder of the game.

Harvell ended the third quarter in style, nailing a long 3-pointer to put the Colts up 54-46. Clements quickly went up by double digits in the fourth quarter and cruised to the win.

In addition to Harvell’s performance, Gafford was pleased with Kaleb Fletcher, who scored 11 points and grabbed nine rebounds, including five offensive boards that led to second-chance points.

“Kaleb had nine of his 11 points in the second half, which helped us extend the lead,” Gafford said. “He is big on the boards for us.”

Bailey also had 11 points for Clements in the victory. Danville was led by Wren Cole with 25 points.

After struggling through a three-game losing streak earlier this month following the inclement weather break, Clements has now won two of its last three, with the one loss being a five-point defeat to West Limestone, ranked No. 7 in Class 4A.

So are the Colts back to playing the way they were earlier in the season, just in time to host the area tournament next week? Gafford said wait until Clements plays undefeated Class 5A school Brooks on Thursday.

“We’ll know on Thursday,” Gafford said. “Brooks is 25-0, so we’ll know then.”

Danville girls 54, Clements 35

Clements hung with the No. 6-ranked team in Class 4A for most of the first half but fell apart in the third quarter, leading to a 19-point loss.

The Colts were within six points of Danville late in the second quarter, but the Hawks finished the half with a flurry and took a 31-19 lead into the half

Danville then outscored Clements 17-4 in the third quarter to take control of the game and cruised to victory in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we’ve played really well for the past five or six games, but we didn’t play well tonight,” Clements coach Zach Meadows said. “We couldn’t get our shots to fall. Hopefully, that’s our one bad one for a while, because it’s time to start playing well. We have to play well from here on out, or we’re done.”

Emrey McGill led Clements with 16 points, while Danville was led by Jordan Hinkle with 17 points and Jolee Cole with 12.

Clements is the No. 2 seed in the Class 3A, Area 16 and will face No. 3 seed Elkmont in the semifinal of the area tournament at West Morgan.