Dorsey Bounces Williams, Kennedy From City Playoffs

Clarence Williams sat down for good with 5:34 left in Kennedy High’s game against Dorsey on Friday night.

Williams, the Golden Cougars’ starting center and three-year varsity player, had just fouled out. And when it was over--when it was finally over--Williams smiled a huge 6-foot, 5-inch, 225-pound smile.

Once again, Kennedy’s season ended in the first round of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs. This time, it was in an 80-64 loss to Dorsey at home.

The Golden Cougars did not win a playoff game in Williams’ tenure. It’s not that he likes it, but he’s learned to accept it.

“We always had a bad playoff season,” Williams said, gesturing toward his teammates. “It’s hard to take, but I’m used to it. I can take it, but it comes hard, regardless.”

This loss came in the forms of Marcus Nash, Anthony Thomas and Chris Brooks, all of whom were able to contain Kennedy’s scorers and then turn around and score themselves.

Thomas led all scorers with 17 points. Brooks and Nash each added 16.

While the Dons were extending their lead to as many as 20 points late in the second quarter, the Golden Cougars were horrid from the field. Uba Satterfield, Kennedy’s leading scorer with 17.7 points a game, scored 6 points on 2-of-18 shooting.

Williams and Randy Brown finished with 14 points each and Eugene Miller led the Golden Cougars with 16 points. Kennedy, however, made only 23 of 69 field-goal attempts (33%) and 13 of 24 free throws (54.2%).

After missing on his first six attempts, Satterfield hit a three-point shot at the halftime buzzer to cut Kennedy’s deficit to 37-22.

The Golden Cougars closed the gap to eight, 69-61, with three minutes left but had nothing left for a finishing kick and missed 7 of their last 8 shots.