Bulldogs Move into 3-Way Tie for First

Crockett Defeats Teague, 44-39

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – The Crockett Bulldogs welcomed the Teague Lions to the Andrew J. Hopkins Activity Center on Friday night, Jan. 18 for a first place showdown in District 20-3A.

Teague came into the game ranked at #14  and had an unblemished 5-0 mark in district play while the Bulldogs were ranked #20  and had a 4-1 record following a surprising loss to the Buffalo Bison, earlier in the season.

Something had to give and in the first quarter it was the Teague offense as it sputtered to four points in the first eight minutes of play on baskets from Isaiah Bell and Kaigen Pillette.

The Bulldogs, meanwhile, were on fire from behind the arc as they drained five three-pointers to go along with three two pointers. Leading the charge for Crockett was Jordan Bedford who knocked down three, three-balls. Ty White hit a three to go along with a pair of twos and AJ Owens nailed a three of his own. Allen Horace bulled his way inside for two as the Bulldogs raced out to a 21-4 lead after the first period.

The Lions’ offense managed to get going in the second quarter as they upped their scoring output to 13. Keyshawn Rice and Mychel Sheed dropped in four apiece while Demond Anderson hit a three-pointer and Ty Abram added two.

While Bedford cooled off in the second with only two points, Owens took up where he left off with a trifecta of threes. White hit his second three of the game as Keshun Easterling and Chris Purvis both had two apiece to help give Crockett a 39-17 lead at the break.

Following the intermission, the Lions came out of the locker room with a renewed sense of urgency as they whittled the lead from 22 down to 12. Anderson paced Teague with seven points while both Pillette and Rice had six apiece. In addition, Abram, Sheed and Rodney Kuykendall all had two.

Owens kept up his torrid pace in the third quarter as dropped in 10 points to pace the Bulldogs. He was joined in the scoring column by Horace with five points as Crockett saw their lead shrink to 54-42 after three periods of play.

While the Lions seemed poised to make a spectacular comeback, they simply did not have the firepower to do so. Sheed went for seven, Rice had five and Pillette added one to round out the Lions’ fourth quarter scoring.

White paced the Bulldogs in the fourth quarter as he hit his fourth and fifth three-pointer of the game to go along with one of two from the line. Bedford converted three of four from the charity stripe while Horace, Jalyne Carruthers and Teddy Jones all had two as the Bulldogs won by a final score of 70-55.

On the game, the Lions were led in scoring by Keeshawn Rice with 15 points and Mychel Sheed with 13. Demond Anderson had 10, Kaigen Pillette went for nine, Ty Abram dropped in four while both Isaiah Bell and Rodney Kuykendall chipped in two.

The Bulldogs were paced by AJ Owens with six three-pointers and 22 overall points. Ty White poured in 17, Jordan Bedford netted 14 and Allen Horace powered his way to nine. Four Bulldogs  – Jalyne Carruthers, Keshun Easterling, Teddy Jones and Chris Purvis – all had two apiece to close out the Crockett point production.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].