AUBURN HILLS >> Things went downhill for Avondale when Jordan Clayton picked up his third foul with 4:25 left in the second quarter of Wednesday’s district semifinal against Clarkston.

Leading 23-13 at the time, the Yellow Jackets were outscored 14-2 for the remainder of the quarter, nearly all of it played with Clayton sitting on the bench.

But the best was yet to come from the senior guard.

Clayton dominated in the third quarter, scoring half of his game-high 20 points to help the Yellow Jackets retake the lead and eventually beat the Wolves 58-51.

He matched Clarkston’s team output of 10 points alone, and assisted for additional scoring that put Avondale in the driver’s seat heading into the last eight minutes.

“I was just hot, and I believed in myself,” Clayton said when asked about toeing the line between aggression and caution while playing through foul trouble. “I was throwing up heat checks. I just went out there and trusted my team, really.”

After getting the lead back, fellow senior DJ Moody connected on two 3-pointers in the first 1:20 of the second quarter, and Avondale led by 11 not long after that, capping off a stretch that gave the hosts all the separation necessary to win.

“I wish some colleges would be contacting me on Jordan — he averages 18 points a game and we finished second in one of the toughest leagues — and what he did out here tonight is what he did all year, but this team, we don’t care about stats. We only care about one stat, and that’s the win,” Avondale head coach Jaret Thomas said.

Clarkston altered double-digit shots with its interior presence all night, and that led to second, third, and sometimes fourth-chance opportunities, but an inability to convert them enough down the stretch hindered chances of a comeback.

A technical foul assessed to Avondale in the final few minutes helped the Wolves shave the lead to as little as eight, but Clayton got it back to 10 with about 1:40 left and Clarkston couldn’t score from inside or out in repeated trips down the floor to get the lead down any further.

Quinn Rosenberg had 19 points and Hayden Flavin added 15 for Clarkston (15-8), who finished two games behind Avondale in the OAA Red standings. That’s because the Yellow Jackets swept the Wolves during the regular season, including a 55-33 win back on Feb. 13 when Avondale knocked down a dozen 3-pointers and also thrived in the third quarter.

Clayton said his team was hungry to answer questions about whether Avondale could pull off the third win of the season over Clarkston. “Everybody doubted us and thought we weren’t gonna 3-0, so we had to go and prove the haters wrong,” he said.

Senior Justin Greer-Sykes added 14 points and junior Jakobe Louris added 11 for the Yellow Jackets, who’ll attempt to win a district title in front of their home fans Friday night.

Waterford Mott 41, Lake Orion 40

Gavin Ort got a feed from teammate Kobe Menyweathers and made a go-ahead shot from just inside the perimeter with two seconds left to lead the Corsairs past Lake Orion in Wednesday’s first semifinal.

“The play was for Kobe to get a layup and seal the game, but I had to be in the right place at the right time and make the shot,” Ort said.

Nathan Giacolone, who led all scorers with 11 points, nearly pushed the game to overtime when a technical was called after Ort’s make, but split two shots from the line, then Mott intercepted the inbounds pass to secure the win.

Scoring was at a premium with solid defense by both scrappy sides. Lake Orion senior Zack Parks, limited to six points, tipped in a floater missed by Ryan Rocheleau to tie the game at 39-39 with 1:45 left.

It remained tied as time ran under a minute, and a poked ball from Mott (20-3) resulted in an attempt by both teams to dive for the loose ball near the sidelines, with officials ruling it last off the Corsairs, giving Orion the rock with 30 seconds left. But Jordan White’s tight man-to-man defense resulted in a five-second violation to get the ball back with 13 ticks remaining, resulting in the opportunity for Ort’s winner.

“(Jordan’s) a tough kid,” said Corsairs head coach Jeff Jayson, whose team split the LVC league title with Walled Lake Central. “He’s the heart and soul of our team. He sacrifices offense and knows his role. Whoever he’s guarding is in for a heckuva night.”

Menyweathers, who led the Corsairs with nine points, exhibited sickness on the court with 1:03 left that led to an extended stoppage. Jayson said that Damari Stephens (eight points) missed a game last week and Tory Robinson (seven points) was a game-time decision due to the illness running through the team.

Ort also finished with eight points for Mott. Junior Jackson Shoskey provided the majority of the outside offense for Lake Orion, knocking down three 3-pointers to account for all nine of his points. Will Farmer also had a pair of triples, including one that helped the Dragons cut the deficit to two with 2:20 left.

The Dragons finish the year 16-8 and will graduated seven seniors, including Parks.

Against Avondale, Mott will be gunning for its first district title since 2012, the first year of Jayson’s initial stint at his alma mater.