Clarendon boys’ 1st state title

Clarendon’s 1st championship

Broncos ‘play basketball’ to state title

By DAVE WOHLFARTH

LaMarcus Penigar and Jmaury Davis were there at the end. When it counted the most.

Their late heroics sparked Clarendon’s boys to their first state championship in school history as the Broncos edged Grapevine 64-60 in the 2021 Class 2A championship game.

With his team trailing 60-59 with 40 seconds left, Penigar drove for the basket and was fouled. He missed his first free throw but made the second to tie the game with 30 seconds left. Penigar then stole the ball from Grapevine guard Riley Murchinson in the backcourt.

“I gambled and tried to go for a steal and got it,” Penigar said.

He drove for the layup that put the Broncos up 62-60 with 10 seconds left.

But Grapevine still had a chance to tie it. That’s when Davis stepped in. Coach Boston Hudson, left, Jordan Herndon, Cayden D’Costa, LaMarcus Peniger, Jmaury Davis and assistant coach Alton Gaines pose with Clarendon’s 2021 Class 2A state championship trophy – and the

Grapevine’s Johnny Lane drove toward players’ ring bling. (Photo by Cathy Martindale) the basket, but Davis planted and took the charge with 4.7 seconds to play.

“I knew he was a slasher-type player and was trying to get to “In a situation like that, you’re so excited when you go up the bucket,” Davis said. “So I stepped in front of him and took and everybody’s kinda scrambling,” he said. “I want to use my the charge and it turned in our favor.” defensive timeout. That way I could set our defense. And sure

Clarendon Coach Boston Hudson said the charge was a close enough, it works out. We take a charge.” call and could have gone either way. Penigar and Davis may have been there at the end, but they

“But all season we harped on defense, and in that moment, I weren’t there at the start of the season. Neither was sixth man was thinking it paid off,” he said. Sylvester Ballard. All three were suspended – Davis and Ballard

Hudson confirmed that it was the first time all season that the for the first four games; Penigar for the first 12 – for a variety 6-2, 185-pound Davis had taken a charge. Davis, a running back of transgressions. and defensive end on the football team, has a scholarship offer “A lot of it was just doing the right thing and trying to act from Division I Western Kentucky to play that sport. right, hoping that translated to the basketball floor,” Hudson

“Always in the season, I chose not to take charges. I always said. “I think it did.” got in trouble for not taking charges,” Davis said. “I took one at Consequently, the Broncos got off to a slow start, losing four the right time.” games in nondistrict play. Their last loss was on Dec. 30 when

After the charge, Clarendon scored a final basket on a full-court they traveled to Class 4A Canyon and were defeated 58-45. pass from Cayden D’Costa to Donovan Thompson to cement the The Broncos never lost again. 64-60 win. Thompson was named the game’s MVP after scoring The week after the Canyon loss, Clarendon won at Class 4A 19 points and grabbing five rebounds. Borger 4A 64-57. Hudson called it an ugly win. ‘Too far to back down now’ “We did not play well,” he said. “And the next day, we really

Neither Penigar nor Davis was that concerned when the got these guys to buy in and play hard. And yes, getting everyBroncos trailed by a point. body back helped. We got into a flow of guys learning how to

“We kept our heads and kept pushing it,” Penigar said, “and play together and sharing the basketball. And we did; we hit our that’s what got us the win.” stride and didn’t look back.”

Davis concurred. Hudson kept emphasizing the need to play hard at all times.

“I told some of the players, ‘We came too far to back down He punctuated that point with “a lot of running and a lot of now,’” he said. “So we pushed our tempo and ended up winning screaming and yelling.” the game.” Undefeated in district

Coach Hudson had saved his last timeout until after Penigar’s The Broncos raced through their 10 District 2-2A games steal and layup had put the Broncos ahead by two points. (Continued on next page) 18 Special Features

(Continued from previous page) without being pressed except for an 87-84 overtime win at Panhandle. They trimmed Texline, which later took the state Class 1A crown, 75-40 in a warmup for the playoffs.

Their closest calls in the playoffs – other than the finals – were a nine-point conquest of Farwell in the area game and a 10-point victory over Floydada in the regional quarterfinals.

However, in the state semifinals, played in Graham because of COVID concerns, Lipan led Clarendon 13-0 before the Broncos regrouped and ended up winning 68-47.

Four days later, when the Broncos ran off the Alamodome floor in San Antonio, they had completed a 27-4 season and claimed the first state championship for any Clarendon team. The Broncos had reached the state semifinals in 2010 and the finals in 2017.

“We felt all the emotion after the game,” Davis said. “In the locker room, we were lost for words because nobody in Clarendon had ever won a state title. We were the first.”

Clarendon clicked with one senior, three juniors and a sophomore in its starting lineup,

Davis, a sophomore forward, was Clarendon’s top scorer and rebounder, averaging 17 points and 8 rebounds once he got on the court. The 6-2 Thompson, the only senior in the starting five, contributed 15 points and 4 rebounds per game.

Penigar, a 5-9 junior guard, checked in at 12 ppg and 6 rpg and led the Broncos in assists with 4 per game. Jordan Herndon, a 5-10 junior guard (9 ppg, 5 rpg, 2 apg), and D’Costa, a 6-2 junior guard (8 ppg, 3 rpg, 2 apg), rounded out a balanced starting unit.

Ballard, a 6-1 sophomore guard, came off the bench to post 11 ppg, 4 rpg statistics. Two freshmen – Lyric Smith, a 6-2 guard (3 ppg), and Anthony Ceniceros, a 6-0 guard (2 ppg) – also played some key moments.

Coach, players on the same path

The guiding force for those players was a 25-year-old coach who was in his first year at Clarendon. The fact that he was less than 10 years older than most of his players seemed to help.

“I think so because I was able to really push them and relate to them at the same time,” Hudson said. “Being closer to their age, knowing what battles to fight and what battles not to fight, I think it worked for us.”

Penigar concurred that having a young coach helped.

“He understands like what we’re talking about,” he said. “We’re both talking about the same thing, the same path.”

The Broncos’ path to the championship involved a change in philosophy on Hudson’s part.

He was an all-district, all-region, all-state guard playing for his dad at Canadian. Coach Johnny Hudson’s teams featured a lot of set plays on offense.

Boston Hudson employed a slow-tempo, structured offense when he guided Wheeler to a 24-8 campaign in his only season there before he came to Clarendon.

Initially, he tried to stick with his dad’s structured offensive thinking. But he discovered that Broncos are made to run.

“You know, we tried, and I wanted it to be a little more structured without too much structure. But then, there’s more thinking than playing,” Hudson said. “Early on, we ran a few sets. That almost slowed the game down. So we tried to get out and run and get out on the break.”

Davis remembers the change in offensive strategy.

“Coach, at the beginning of the year, he wanted us to set plays and all this,” Davis said. “But after our last loss to Canyon, he told us to just go play basketball. And that’s what led us to the state title.”

You’ve got to play with the cards you’re dealt. And Hudson found it best to deal fast.

“I think you adjust to the kids you have,” he said. “We’ve got such good athletes, and I just didn’t think there was going to be a whole lot of teams that could handle our pressure and our tempo.”

Hudson called it a continuity offense.

“It’s a flowing offense,” he explained. “You know, it’s not looking at me and I’m calling a play.”

The Broncos averaged about 55 points per game while holding opponents to an average of 45.

Johnny Hudson’s defensive strategy at Canadian was a “helping man-to-man,” Boston Hudson said. But the Clarendon coach credits Vinay Patel at Oklahoma City University for shaping his defensive philosophy. Boston Hudson’s first coaching job was as an assistant to Patel at OKC. Patel is a former interim coach at West Texas A&M University, Hudson’s alma mater.

The Broncos played a man-to-man defense. Their tallest player stood 6-3.

“We’re not very big, but we play bigger than we are,” Hudson said. “Some of these guys can jump out of a gym and run. It’s a special group.”

Riverwalk celebration

It also was special that his parents drove eight hours from Ruidoso, New Mexico, to catch all of Clarendon’s games.

Johnny and Nita Hudson sat right behind the Broncos’ bench at the state championship game.

“I got to visit with my dad right before the game and went over to him after we won it,” Boston Hudson said. “That was neat; that was special.”

The celebration of Clarendon’s first state championship was special, too. The Clarendon players and supporters all gathered on the Riverwalk.

“It was a big celebration in San Antonio that night,” Hudson said. “That’s for sure.”

Coach Boston Hudson Photos by Cathy Martindale