Bulldogs Fall in Area Round
Lorena 59 Crockett 54
By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter
JEWETT – When the Crockett Bulldogs and Lorena Leopards took the court in Jewett on Friday night, it was a rematch of last year’s Regional Quarterfinals.
Last season’s game saw the two teams battle back-and-forth before the Leopards managed to win by a four-point margin. This time, the game was in the Area Round but the competition was just as fierce.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the result this season was the same as Lorena pulled ahead in the closing moments of the contest to win by a final score of 59-54.
The Leopards took the early lead on eight points by Keegan Powell while Camden Brock added four in the first quarter. Andrew Harris and Khi Ritchie scored two apiece to help give the Lorena squad a 17-14 lead after the opening eight minutes of play.
The Bulldogs were able to keep the game close thanks to the efforts o Jadyn Collins with six and DJ Walker with eight.
Crockett took the lead early in the second on a three-point play from Walker and led 21-19 at the 5:23 mark of the quarter. Lorena, however, went on a 10-4 run to take a 29-23 lead with 1:23 remaining in the half.
Just when things seemed to be slipping away from the Bulldogs, back-to-back buckets from Collins and Keshun Easterling cut the margin to three and sent the two teams to their respective locker rooms with Crockett trailing 31-28 at the break.
Following the intermission, the intensity of the game started to pick up. A steal and a layup followed by a put back from Easterling gave the Bulldogs a slim one-point lead.
The Leopards responded and went up by four only to see Walker get hot from the field. A two-pointer sliced the lead in half but Lorena followed with a two of their own to go back up by four. A three-pointer from the Crockett senior cut the lead to one and then a dunk from Walker put Crockett up by one with less than three minutes left in the third.
A 5-0 run put the Leopards up 47-42 but a huge three from Walker trimmed the lead to 47-45 at the end of the quarter.
The fourth quarter opened with a pair of questionable calls against the Bulldogs. The first was on a breakaway where Collins was ruled to have stepped out of bounds. The second was a quick five-second call giving the ball back to the Leopards.
A three-pointer from Lorena’s Keegan Powell put the Leopards up by seven but a rebound off of a missed free throw sent Collins to the line where he converted one-of-two.
A two-pointer from Walker trimmed the lead to 54-50 with under four minutes left to play. On the next possession, the Leopards turned the ball over and Walker responded with yet another deuce to make the score 54-52 with 2:30 remaining.
That was as close as Crockett would get, however, as Lorena managed to pull away in the final moments to win the contest 59-54.
On the game, Lorena was led in scoring by Keegan Powell with 21 points. Camden Brock was also in double figures with 18. Five other Leopard players – Andrew Brittain, Jackson Generals, Andrew Harris, Carter Pitts and Khi Ritchie – all had four apiece.
Crockett were led in scoring by DJ Walker with a game-high 26 points. Jadyn Collins was also in double figures with 16. Keshun Easterling and Tayshawn Simon both had four while Courtney Byrd and Iverson Rischer chipped in two apiece.
While it wasn’t the way the Bulldogs wanted their year to end, they should be congratulated on an outstanding season.
Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].
