Bulldogs lose fight against Warriors

Bulldogs lose fight against Warriors

Earle boys come up short in gutsy, intense battle with East Poinsett County

sports@theeveningtimes.com

Earle’s B.J. Murray’s potential game tying threepoint shot with under 30 seconds to play clanged off the rim and into a Warrior’s hands as the Earle Bulldogs (16-6 overall) dropped a tightly contested 69-65 ball-game to the East Poinsett County Warriors (13-5) Friday night in Earle.

After a hard fought first quarter, which the Warriors won 16-15, the Bulldogs found themselves in trouble mid-way through the second stanza. An offensive rebound and a steal led to two quick buckets for the Warriors’ J’Sebian Brown and extended East Poinsett County’s lead to 7 with just under six minutes until halftime.

Despite the quick hits from the Warriors, the Bulldogs would not be defeated so easily. Travon Doolittle sank a baseline jumper with 5:20 to go in the second quarter which served as the momentum the Earle team needed to end the quarter on a 16-8 run. Doolittle connected on another jumper at the halftime buzzer to give the Bulldogs a 31-30 lead at the break, the first Earle lead since the opening stanza. Doolittle scored 7 of his team leading 20 points during the second period.

The Bulldogs looked to be finding rhythm in the third quarter, as Doolittle once again connected from the baseline with 6:10 to play in the stanza to increase the Earle lead to seven.

However, that is when the Warriors offense appeared to wake up and turn the tide of the game.

An offensive rebound and put back score by Xzavier Reed ignited the East Poinsett County team as the Warriors went on to score 17 points in the final 5:46 of the third.

Bulldogs Head Coach Billy Murray believes his players played too lackadaisical on defense during that span.

“We gave up too many layups due to lack of effort,” Murray said.

“When the game got tough and close we didn’t do what we had to do.”

The last eight minutes of play began with Earle leading by two points and felt like a heavyweight title fight in which each competitor exchanged body blow after body blow.

Reed came up with a steal and broke away for a layup which tied the game at 55 with 4:20 remaining.

The Warriors then took the lead for the first time since the second quarter as the team scored two baskets, one by Reed and one by Jase Witfield, within 11 second of each other.

The Bulldogs, on the brink of a comeback, closed the gap as B.J.

Murray connected on two free throws to cut the Warriors lead to one.

However, as the Warriors increased their lead back to 3 and the clock ran to under 30 seconds to play, Murray raised up and his aforementioned three-point shot refused to find the net.

The shot by B.J. Murray was rushed due to a lack of focus, according to coach Murray.

“He thought time was running out,” Murray said.

“That’s just a young inexperienced mistake. His mind wasn’t in the game.

That was the ball game right there.”

A rebound by the Warriors’ Brown sealed the fate of the Bulldogs.

Good free throw shooting by Brown allowed the Warriors to hold onto the lead as the final buzzer sounded.

Second in scoring for the Bulldogs, behind Doolittle, finished three players.

Murray, Dontrel Johnson, and Darren Cisero all pumped in 11 points apiece.

Brown and Reed blazed the way for the victorious Warriors. Brown led all scorers with 22 points, as Reed pushed through 20 in the win.

The Bulldogs are next scheduled to take the hardwood tonight against the Bay Yellowjackets (15-9) with action slated to tip-off at 5 p.m. inside Earle High School’s gymnasium.

By Collins Peeples