Athens Bulldogs return to basics in difficult win over Circleville
By: Caleb McCleskey, Chloe Workman
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CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) — After losing their last regular season game against Trimble, the Athens Bulldogs Boys Basketball team looked to begin their tournament run on their home floor against the Circleville Tigers.
At the beginning of the first quarter, Derrick Welsh makes sure he gets himself on the board early making back to back layups to give the Bulldogs the lead.
At the end of the first quarter, the Bulldogs were leading the Tigers 11-5.
With the second quarter underway, the Tigers were looking to find their way back into the ball game. Then with multiple shots missed by the Bulldogs, the Tigers were able to go on a quiet 8-0 run, but were still falling to the Bulldogs 13-20 at the end of the first half.
After a half time discussion about how the Bulldogs could do better as a team, the Bulldogs made sure to extend their lead in the third quarter.
For the second half, the Bulldogs decided to full court press for the rest of the game to try and give them extra opportunities on the offensive end. With multiple third quarter turnovers by the Tigers, the Bulldogs managed to get those extra possessions.
By the end of the third quarter, the Bulldogs were leading the Tigers 36-23.
During this quarter the Tigers tried to get their players open in the corner for wide open shots against the Bulldogs defensive zone, but those shots beyond the arch just weren’t falling.
With all hope lost for the Tigers, the Bulldogs thought they had the game in the bag, but the Tigers wanted to try and prove they were the better team.
Then in the fourth quarter, that 13 point lead by the Bulldogs quickly got cut to 4 with two minutes left in the game.
With tension starting to build up between the two teams, Nathan Shadik is able to stop the incredible comeback of the Tigers by sinking two clutch free throws.
The Bulldogs are able to win this game 49-41.
The leading scorers for the Bulldogs were Levi Neal and Derrik Welsh both with 13 points.
Along with Welsh’s 13 points he added 9 rebounds.