One for Coach Clarke

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Jan. 6, 2005 | 9:34 a.m.

One by one, they touched the empty chair at the end of their bench, a reminder of their lost friend and teacher who won't be there to watch but whose lessons still resonate.

As Mike Clarke read Palo Verde's starting lineup Wednesday, his voice occasionally shaking, the Panthers players all came over to say hello, and goodbye, to Panthers coach Phil Clarke, who died last week after a long battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

And when Mike, Phil's son and a senior at Palo Verde, finished with the lineups and another brief tribute to his father, two teams that Clarke helped establish as powers in Southern Nevada high school hoops played a long, emotional game. Palo Verde withstood a late run by Cheyenne to take a 71-64 Northwest Division win at the newly named Clarke Court.

"I told them I think they're going to have a lot of emotion. We told them Cheyenne's not going to come in here and lie down," said Cheyenne coach Larry Johnson, who was an assistant under Clarke at Cheyenne.

And much to everyone's surprise, Cheyenne took control of the game early, going up 29-18 halfway through the second quarter. But after a Palo Verde timeout, P'Allen Stinnett and the Panthers went on a 19-4 run that stretched well into the third quarter. By the time the fourth quarter began, the defending state champions had outscored Cheyenne 34-10 in a 12-minute stretch.

Then things started to get ugly, as the teams played a foul-plagued fourth quarter in which 21 fouls and 42 free throws set the tone for a slow, ugly eight-minute stretch.

Stinnett fouled out with 3:22 remaining, and Palo Verde scored three points in the next 2 1/2 minutes as Cheyenne got right back into the game. The Desert Shield came as close as 66-64 when Reggie Rideout hit two free throws with 57.8 seconds remaining, as anxious Palo Verde fans began chanting: "Coach Clarke! Coach Clarke!"

After Rideout's free throws, Tyler Lay connected a layup off of Michael Loyd's pass to put Palo Verde up 68-64, and Matt Dixon's steal and basket essentially sealed the win for the Panthers.

The teams combined for 55 personal fouls and shot 30-for-65 from the free-throw line.

"I don't think we played anywhere near our best basketball tonight," said Paul Aznarez, who has been the Panthers' interim coach this year while Clarke fought the cancer.

"I thought we might have to be shocked into playing hard. We've dedicated the rest of our season to Coach Clarke and his family.

"I think we have a lot of good basketball left in us, but I don't think we played real well tonight."

And while the Panthers' program continues to mourn and look back, the players do have something they can look forward to this week.

Nate Schulte, a junior forward who last year was the Sun All-State Player of the Year, will make his 2005 debut with the Panthers at Cimarron-Memorial.

Schulte began the season at Brewster Academy, a prep school in New Hampshire, but transferred back to Palo Verde over the winter break.

Schulte will provide balance.

"We're hoping he provides a man-sized spark we need," Aznarez said. "We're a little charged up right now but he's fierce. We've got to find some guys to lift us up."