Sports
Athens Bulldogs Bite Down On Nelsonville-York
By: Nick Ursini
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Plagued with turnovers all game, the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes could not keep up with the Athens Bulldogs as the Bulldogs ran away with a 75-47 victory.
It was senior night at McAfee Gym and the crosstown rivalry had plenty of fans there to cheer on both teams.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a six-point lead at the end of the first quarter and only built on their lead from there. The combination of turnovers and free throws made the difference for Athens.
Nelsonville-York had 10 first half turnovers and Athens capitalized with transition buckets and wide open jump shots.
Senior Griffin Lutz led the Bulldogs as he’s done all season long with 12 first half points.
Lutz finished the final game with 23 points, shooting 7-of-14 from the field, six assists, four rebounds and four steals.
The Bulldogs crushed all hopes for the Buckeyes in the third quarter after outscoring Nelsonville-York 23-5. A combination of a full court press and more turnovers doomed the Buckeyes from any possible comeback.
Nelsonville-York finished with 17 turnovers in the game.
Coach Mickey Cozart says the message in the locker room was simple, stop playing their game and let’s play our game.
“We played a little bit of 1-2-2 zone tonight, we haven’t felt ready to use it until tonight,” said Coach Cozart. “We wanted to get back on track, to play super aggressive and work on stuff that we can potentially use in the tournament.”
The Bulldogs also got significant contributions from Justin Hynes and Logan Maxfield. Maxfield contributed 13 points, two rebounds and two assists. Hynes finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
The Bulldogs took complete advantage from the charity strip. As a team, Athens shot 19-of-26 from the field.
The loss drops Nelsonville-York to 10-12 to finish the regular season and now turn their attention to Dawson-Bryant in their first postseason matchup on Feb. 20.
As for the Athens Bulldogs, they finish up their regular season campaign tomorrow when they host Marietta.