Bulldogs Tame Lions, 64-35
Win Sets Up First Place Showdown
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
CROCKETT – Headed into Tuesday night’s game against the Teague Lions, the Crockett Bulldogs were knotted up with the Franklin Lions for first place in District 20-3A. Franklin had won earlier in the evening by taking down Elkhart 66-40 and now it was up to the Bulldogs to keep pace with the Lions in green by taking care of business against the Lions in orange.
Crockett didn’t disappoint as they took an early lead and began to pull away in the second quarter as they coasted to a 64-35 victory.
The Bulldogs opened the game on an 11-2 run only to see the Lions battle back and cut the margin to three with 2:48 left in the quarter. Teague eventually sliced the lead to one, but a Courtney Byrd tip-in with under a minute left in the period allowed Crockett to take a 15-12 lead after the first eight minutes of play.
Jehmel Rice had four in the opening stanza for the Lions while Sabastian Carter, Jkybryen Harris, Dehondre Hayes and Bob Owens all had two.
Aside from the two from Byrd, Crockett saw Bredron Tucker knock down five while Jadyn Collins and Keshun Easterling both netted four apiece in the early going.
Defense was the name of the game in the second quarter. Crockett’s DJ Walker got things going with a three-pointer but that was it until Byrd hit an “and one” at the 4:36 mark of the period. In fact, Teague didn’t score a point until only three minutes remained in the first half.
As it was, Teague only scored seven in the quarter as Tylin Randle had five while Harris had the other two.
Walker started the second period for Crockett with a three and ended it with an alley-oop at the buzzer as part of his 11 points in the frame. Byrd added another three while Collins and Easterling both had two apiece to close out the first half with the Bulldogs ahead by a margin of 33-19.
Just like the second quarter, Walker hit a three to get things going for Crockett in the third. Unfortunately, he was injured less than a minute later as he was going for a loose ball. The Bulldogs continued to play solid basketball, however, as Collins netted four while Byrd added three to his total. Ajani Ellis, Iverson Rischer and Tayshawn Simon all chipped in two apiece as the Bulldogs took a 49-31 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Lions third quarter points came from Harris with a pair of three pointers while Rice and Wayland Allison split the other six points in the period.
The Bulldogs put any hopes of a Teague comeback to rest as they held the Lions to only four points in the final eight minutes on twos from Allison and Rice.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the court, Collins went off for eight points in the quarter. Byrd netted five and Ellis closed out the scoring with a late basket to help Crockett cruise to a 64-35 win.
On the game, Teague was led in scoring by Jkybryen Harris with 10 points and Jehmel Rice with nine. Wayland Allison and Tylin Randle both scored five while three other Lions – Sabastian Carter, Dehondre Hayes and Bob Owens – all scored two apiece to close out the Teague point production.
The Bulldogs were led by three players in double-figures. Jadyn Collins poured in a game-high 18 points while DJ Walker netted 14 and Courtney Byrd went for 13. Keshun Easterling had six, Bredron Tucker had five and Ajani Ellis dropped in four. Rounding out the Crockett scoring, Iverson Rischer and Tayshawn Simon both chipped in two apiece.
The win over Teague set up a first-place showdown on Friday between the Bulldogs and Franklin Lions. As of press time, however, a final score from the game was unavailable.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
