Crockett Loses a Heartbreaker to Coldspring, 64-61
Bulldogs Finish Second in Ho. Co. Holiday Classic Silver Bracket
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – In a first for probably the entire East Texas basketball fan base, the Crockett Bulldogs opened the Silver Bracket Finals of the Houston County Holiday Classic in one gym and finished the game against the Coldspring-Oakhurst Trojans in another.
The move was necessitated after 16. 5 games over a three-day span, coupled with a water leak, caused the court at the Andrew J. Hopkins Activity to buckle. Initially, the gym switch seemed to help the Bulldogs who overcame a 10-point deficit to tie the game with less than two minutes to play. Unfortunately for Bulldogs’ fans, the Crockett rally came up short as the Trojans managed to hold on for a 64-61 win.
As the game got underway, Coldspring came out on fire and opened a five-point lead over Crockett after the first eight minutes of play. Cam Shaw-Rucker poured in seven points for the Trojans while Luke Monroe added four. KD Bookman, Chris Harden and Tiger Parker all had two apiece as Coldspring led 17-12 after one.
The Bulldogs saw Jadyn Collins, Keshun Easterling and DJ Walker all drop in four points to pace the Crockett squad.
The second quarter saw the Trojans extend their lead to double-digits only to see the Bulldogs claw their way back to only trail by six at the break. Shaw-Rucker continued to lead Coldspring in the second period as he dropped in eight points. Monroe added another five to his total while Parker chipped in a bucket to help the Trojans take a 32-26 lead into the locker room at the half.
Collins continued to bedevil Coldspring with six more while Walker had four. Easterling converted a pair from the charity stripe and Courtney Byrd found the scoring column with a basket to round out the Bulldogs’ first half point production.
Courtney Byrd
When the two teams returned to the court after the break, the coaches from both teams decided it would be best if they moved the game to Crockett’s old gym.
The move seemed to help the Bulldogs. After they fell behind by 10 at the start of the period, Crockett came roaring back to cut the lead to five. Byrd found his shooting touch from inside and put in six. Collins knocked down five, Walker canned a three-pointer and Easterling converted two from the line as the Bulldogs trimmed the lead to 47-42 after three quarters were in the books.
The change of scenery didn’t seem to hurt the Trojans’ Monroe and Shaw-Rucker as they scored all of the Coldspring third quarter points. Monroe poured in 10 while Shaw-Rucker had the other five.
With eight minutes remaining in the Bulldogs’ portion of the tournament, Crockett began to play some of their best basketball in the three-day event. The Bulldogs went down by seven at the start of the quarter but trimmed the lead to one with 4:37 remaining in the game and tied it at 56 a minute later.
As the clock ticked down under a minute, the Bulldogs trailed by one and had possession of the ball with a chance to take the lead. It was not meant to be, however, as Crockett failed to capitalize on the opportunity and fell by a final score of 64-61.
On the game, the Trojans were led in scoring by Cam Shaw-Rucker with a game high 27 points. Just behind him was Luke Monroe who poured in 26. Rounding out the Coldspring scoring, Tiger Parker had four, KD Bookman added three and both Chris Harden, along with Xzavien Major, chipped in two.
The Bulldogs were led by four players in double figures. Jadyn Collins led the way with a team-high 20 points while DJ Walker knocked down 18. Courtney Byrd and Keshun Easterling both netted 10 while Tayshawn Simon closed out the Crockett scoring with a three-pointer.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
