Two of the oldest jokester comments in basketball are “They couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn” and “They couldn’t hit the floor if they dropped the basketball.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t a joke for the Martin boy’s basketball team Friday night.

The Clippers seemed colder than the temperatures outdoors. missing outside shots, layups and free throws with alarming frequency. And their dreams of an undefeated season were the biggest casualty in a 55-40 loss to SAC rival Fennville.

Martin had won its first eight ballgames of the season and was ranked No. 8 in the Associated Press Class D state poll last Tuesday. Surprisingly, the visiting Blackhawks took just a 3-5 overall record into the Clippers’ impressive new facility.

The two teams looked like they were going to be in a shootout in the first quarter, as Fennville led 20-16. But then the offensive fireworks for Martin stopped with a paltry two points in the entire second period. The Blackhawks streaked to a 31-18 advantage at intermission.

Fennville’s strategy was to sit back in a zone, causing the Clippers to misfire outside and even close up and to gobble up most of the rebounds from errant shots.

Sophomore southpaw Collin Coburn nailed a couple of threes on consecutive trips down the floor in the first quarter to keep the score close, but the only basket for the home team in that second period was a followup by senior center Jacob Yowler.

The Clippers came out strong early in the second half and closed the gap to just five points, 41-36, on a tip-in by Cayden Curry at the start of the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, they went scoreless again, this time for almost five minutes and the Blackhawks were able to pull away.

It was a good thing Fennville was almost as bad at the free throw line. Otherwise the score would have been even worse.

Martin finished the contest with a miserable 6-for-19 performance at the charity stripe, just a tad better than 30 percent. The Blackhawks went 9-for-19 for just under 50%.

Coburn was the only Clipper to score in double figures, with 11 points. Senior forward Austin Scovill led Fennville with 15, most of them coming on what is reffered to as “garbage points” because he simply was in the right place at the right time for easy baskets. Matthew Sanchez scored 14, 11 of them in the first half, and point guard Jace Cossey had 13.

So Martin now has an 8-1 record overall and it is in serious danger Tuesday of absorbing its second straight loss against a Delton team that handled Fennville.

COVER PHOTO: Carter Hilton slips past a defender onto the baseline.