Clinton School students Mahmoud Mahmoud (’11) and Jonathan Dunkley (’10) coached a boy’s basketball team at the Boys & Girls Club-Wetherington Unit in North Little Rock to a championship Friday night. The Celtics defeated the NLR Football Team, 36-34, on a last-second shot by point guard Kenneth Harris to win the High School Boys League Championship.
With four minutes to go in the fourth quarter the Celtics trailed by 12 points and seemed to be headed towards defeat, but the young men kept their composure, started to rally and found a way to win. The Clinton School students in attendance helped cheer the team to a remarkable, come-from-behind victory by stomping and chanting “Let’s Go Celtics.” This was an unbelievable way to finish the season and provided the player’s with a very fun and energetic atmosphere for their championship game.
Dunkley and Mahmoud have been volunteering at the Boys & Girls Club since October and have been working with the young men two times a week, for practices and games. During the course of the season, the players participated in a cleanup project at the Haven of Rest Cemetery in Little Rock and attended a lecture during the Black Male Initiative conference at UALR, which was organized in part by Clinton School student Harvell Howard.
Dunkley and Mahmoud “wanted the guys to have a great basketball experience, but it was far more important for them to get involved in their communities and make their final preparations for college,” Dunkley said.