Staff reports
Steve Kirkpatrick blames himself.
The Falcons fell to Clinton County 63-34 in a game that saw Monroe get outrebounded, outscored and outplayed.
“I’ll take the blame for this one,” Kirkpatrick said. “I didn’t have my team ready to play. We’ve been playing physical all year, but (Friday) we just didn’t play physical.”
Clinton won the rebounding battle 32-17 over Monroe and forced 22 Falcon turnovers.
Monroe kept things close in the first half and only trailed 25-20 going into the locker room, but Clinton went on to outscore the Falcons 38-14 in the final 16 minutes to seal the victory.
Tanner Kendall was the only Monroe player in double figures with 14. Keaton Rich scored nine and freshman Chad Wilson added six.
Kirkpatrick said that although the Falcons will attempt to learn from the 29-point loss, they will also try to look foward.
“We can take something to learn from this game,” Kirkpatrick said. “We’ve got to learn to be ready to play. We can’t just show up.
“We’re going to put this game behind us, though. We’re not going to dwell on it by any means.”
Lady Falcons 45, Clinton County 30
The Lady Falcons used defense and 20 points from Caylan Bybee to defeat Clinton County 45-30 Friday night.
“The defense picked up and played great tonight,” Monroe head coach Dwayne Murray said. “(Offensively), Clinton tried to slow the ball down, so we kind picked it up and made them push a little bit.”
The strategy helped guard Madison Clements add 14 points to Bybee’s 20. Murray said Clements disrupted passing lanes on the defensive end as well.
Monroe will next face Greenwood on Feb. 16.
