ORANGE PARK - Clay High’s invigorated basketball team, led by center Cooper Vaughan’s tough inside play, had a unique double on their schedule with the Knights of both Oakleaf and Creekside high schools coming two days apart on Thursday and Friday.

“We kind of lost the Oakleaf game ourselves because we lost some composure at the end,” said Clay coach Jared Moses. “Two ballhandling errors were the difference in that game. Creekside should be a good game.”

Prophetic as his Creekside comment was prior to the start of the Clay vs. Creekside matchup early Saturday morning at the RaiderDome Classic at Orange Park High School, Moses got an inspired effort from his troops that turned into a come-from-behind 41-38 win over the defending 8A runnerups.

“These guys are just fun to coach and fun to hold practice with,” said Moses. “They are scrappy and play full speed. The mistakes we get are usually from over-playing a situation which is kind of a good thing. We iron those out and we can expect good results.”

Creekside, 27-4 last year and the district 4-8A champion over Bartram Trail, came in with seasons of 27-5, 26-4 and 24-6, came in with a roster that had lost four key senior players, but retained the leadership of long-time coach Will Mayer. Creekside is still winless for 2018 at 0-5 with losses to St. Augustine, Bishop Kenny and Buchholz.

Clay sizzled the opening phase of 2018 with wins over Nease (62-43), Middleburg (54-19) and district 5-5A foe Menendez (58-50 in overtime) before Oakleaf came to Clay High and crashed the party with a fourth-quarter surge and a 40-36 win.

Vaughan, at 6’-3”, has been the focal point of the Blue Devil attack with the very agile post player a menace on defense and also getting more offensive looks down low close to the backboard as opponents have not found a clear path to the basket with Vaughan underneath.

“He held Oakleaf’s center to just two points; Chantz Williams,” said Moses. “He’s very smart with good positioning.”