Big fourth quarter rallies Bay Springs over Clarkdale

Published 12:36 pm Friday, January 16, 2026

BAY SPRINGS — It wasn’t pretty, but head coach Stan Jones will take the win.

Behind a big fourth quarter along with play of Octavius McCormick the Bulldogs were able to rally past Clarkdale 40-35 in an all-Bulldog matchup in a key Region 2-6A matchup on Thursday night.

“They the packed the paint on us and made us make shots and early on we weren’t making shots,” Jones said. “The two freshmen made two big threes, and in the end Octavius made some big lay-ups and free throws to help us pull this one out.”

Clarkdale lead majority of the game.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 9-2 lead to the begin the game but eventually held a slim 11-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter Bay Springs began the period on a 6-1 run to tie the game up at 12-12, but Clarkdale answered with five straight points to take a 17-12 lead and would hold a 21-17 halftime lead.

In the third quarter every time Bay Springs cut into the Clarkdale lead the Bulldogs had an answer as Clarkdale held a 31-25 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter was the difference as Bay Springs outscored Clarkdale 10-4 and ended the game on a 10-2 run to seal the win.

With Clarkdale leading 33-32 McCormick hit a lay-up with 3:07 remaining in the fourth quarter to give Bay Springs a 34-33 lead. Cayden Walker’s three-pointer with just over a minute remaining gave the Bulldogs a 38-33 lead.

After Clarkdale hit a lay-up with 56 seconds left to cut the lead to 38-35, McCormick hit lay-up with 13 seconds left to give Bay Springs the 40-35 lead and seal the win.

Bay Springs (4-10, 3-0 Region 6-2A), the defending Class 2A state champions, have now won three in a row, all division wins.

“That’s what championship teams do is find ways to win. This year has gone as planned as far as our record, but we’ve picked it up at the right time in district time and that’s when you want to be peaking,” Jones said. “Every win is not going to be a blow out, it’s going to be some ugly ones. That was like a playoff win and Cham.”

Kyler Mosley had 10 points to lead Clarkdale (12-7, 0-2).

“We played really hard and had the lead for three quarters just couldn’t sustain it in the fourth quarter and didn’t finish the game,” said Clarkdale coach Drew Watson. “We shot the ball well and gave ourselves a chance. We’ve played two district games and both have been within a couple possessions to win the game and haven’t finish. We got to figure out a way to finish games.”