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A 3-peat for Clemmons in PTL

Posted on 31. Jul, 2014 by in Iowa Basketball

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By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa — Winning the Prime Time League just doesn’t get old for Anthony Clemmons.

For the third straight summer, the Iowa junior point guard was part of a PTL championship squad and gets bragging rights in the Hawkeye locker room. Even despite the absence of junior center Adam Woodbury, who is currently participating at the Four Nations Cup in Estonia, Clemmons and his fourth-seeded Westport Touchless Autowash/IAHomesForSale squad staged a second-half rally and delivered in crunch time to defeat No. 2 Culver’s/McCurry’s 114-111 Thursday night at the North Liberty Community Center.

“I’ve been talking about this since I got on campus,” Clemmons said. “I’ve been talking junk to players in the locker room. Like I said, I love to win and I hate to lose more than I like winning. So I put that in my category.”

The game had a back-and-forth feel to it at the start before Culver’s/McCurry’s got going thanks to a pair of alley-oop dunks by senior forward Aaron White, both of which were assisted by incoming sophomore guard Trey Dickerson. The first alley-oop came from half-court, while the second one came shortly thereafter in transition.

“A couple of those, I didn’t even have to yell. It was just a feel and he’s just a good PG like that,” White said about the chemistry he built playing alongside Dickerson this summer. “That’s really going to help us. He’s great in transition. You saw a couple of times, he’s his own fast break. That’s how quick he is. I love playing with guys like that.”

These were two of the six assists Dickerson had on the evening to complement his 13 points on 5-of-15 shooting, while White finished with a monstrous double-double of 37 points on 15-of-27 shooting and 21 rebounds.

Culver’s/McCurry’s built a lead as big as 13 points late in the first half before Autowash/Homes managed to trim its halftime deficit down to seven points at 56-49. Then came the second half, which Autowash/Homes started in complete control of as that deficit quickly became a 62-61 lead three minutes in.

“They kind of got hot and then we had to start fouling,” Dickerson said. “Tonight, they pulled it out.”

After Autowash/Homes managed to climb ahead, the game once again had a back-and-forth feel and even began to slow down from the quick pace it was accelerating at. With 2:58 left, Autowash/Homes drained a 3-pointer to tie the game at 101-101, prompting Culver’s/McCurry’s to call timeout.

From there, Autowash/Homes permanently seized control of the game as UNI’s Klint Carlson scored five unanswered points out of that timeout to put it up 106-101. After a Culver’s/McCurry’s 3-pointer made it 106-104, Clemmons made his two biggest plays of the evening.

First came a drive to the bucket with White defending him that extended the lead back to two possessions. Then in the closing minutes, Clemmons nailed an open 3-pointer — a play he said his head coach Randy Larson called for him — to make the game 111-104. He finished with 26 points on 11-of-23 shooting, along with six rebounds and six assists.

“Randy called it for me,” Clemmons said. “He said, ‘seven seconds, Sapp,’ and called my number. What I was taught growing up, when you get your number called, you better get that basket.”

Culver’s/McCurry’s would get back within two points and even had two chances in the closing seconds to tie the game with a 3-pointer. But neither look it got from behind the arc fell and Autowash/Homes held on for the victory.

*Be sure to visit HawkeyeDrive.com on Friday for a complete statistical breakdown of every Iowa player competing in the Prime Time League this summer, as well as final thoughts on each player as the Hawkeyes prepare for their upcoming 2014-15 college basketball season.

2014 PTL Championship: Autowash/Homes (PURPLE) VS. Culver’s/McCurry’s (WHITE) (FIRST HALF VIDEO):

2014 PTL Championship: Autowash/Homes (PURPLE) VS. Culver’s/McCurry’s (WHITE) (SECOND HALF VIDEO):

INTERVIEWS:

ANTHONY CLEMMONS:

TREY DICKERSON:

AARON WHITE:

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