As the first trip through region play came to an end on Tuesday night the Boiling Springs Bulldogs used big games from Corey Johnson and Khalil Brown along with some clutch free throws from Trey McManus to pick up their first region win with a 69-67 victory over Hillcrest. "It was a good night for us," said Bulldogs head coach Hal McManus. "We've been struggling here lately but our kids have kept battling even though things haven't gone our way. I'm glad to see the hard work pay off and they fought from the tip all the way to the end of the game." Boiling Springs who has struggled shooting the ball some this season got off to a hot start on Tuesday night as senior Jordon Askew hit a three pointer to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 lead on their way to a 18-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. Junior Corey Johnson led the way for the Bulldogs in the first quarter as he and Trey McManus combined for eleven of the Bulldogs eighteen first quarter points. In the second quarter the Rams made a run to catch up to the Bulldogs as they outscored Boiling Springs 22-16 behind seven points from sophomore Jeremy Bland and made the Bulldogs lead 34-26 when the halftime buzzer sounded. When the third quarter started Corey Johnson picked backup where he left off in the first half as he drove to the basket making a contested layup while also being fouled to open the Bulldogs second half off with a three point play the old fashioned way. In the third quarter Johnson scored eight of his game high twenty-five points for the Bulldogs. "Scoring twenty-five points and going ten for ten from the free throw line was great to see for Corey," said McManus. "I know he has been frustrated here recently shooting the ball and to see him breakthrough tonight is great to see and I think it continue over for him the rest of the year." While Johnson had a great quarter for the Bulldogs, Hillcrest senior Zion Bruster had a pretty impressive quarter himself scoring thirteen third quarter points in the quarter connecting on three deep three-pointers and going two for two from the free throw line. Bruster accounted for thirteen of the Rams' twenty-two points in the quarter as they were able to keep pace with the Bulldogs in the quarter as they trailed Boiling Springs 55-48 when the third quarter ended. In the fourth quarter Hillcrest got the first bucket of the quarter but Boiling Springs quickly responded when Johnson hit a three pointer from the right side to set up a battle between the two teams as the game headed for the finish line. Hillcrest was able to get the Boiling Springs lead to 62-60 with forty-seven seconds ;eft in the game but sophomore Trey McManus stepped tp the line and hit both free throws expanding the Bulldogs lead to 64-60. "I was excited for him in that moment because I knew he wanted that chance to hit those free throws," said McManus, about his son Trey shooting the late free throws. "He was tough and made five out of six there at the end and showed a lot of guts hitting those free throws to seal the victory." McManus went to the line again to extend the lead to 66-62 but it was a steal by sophomore Khalil Brown that sealed the game and sent McManus back to the free throw line to finish the game off. Brown had a great night for the Bulldogs coming up with key steals and also scoring seventeen points on Tuesday night. "Khalil is always in the right spot and improves every time that he's in the gym," said McManus. "He's the ultimate team player because he may not score a point in the game but he's going to do something to effect the game in a positive way. Offensively and defensively he just always know what to do." The Bulldogs saw three players finish in double figures on Tuesday night as Corey Johnson led the way with twenty-five points while Khalil Brown had seventeen and Trey McManus added ten points. They also got a good night from senior Jordon Askew who added eight points in the game. Hillcrest also had three players finish in double figures as Zion Bruster led the way with seventeen points while AJ Allenspach finished with fifteen points and Jeremy Bland added twelve points of his own. With the victory the Bulldogs will now look to carry that momentum into the second half of region play as they host Byrnes on Friday night in another region matchup. "We've got a tough matchup against Byrnes on Friday night and they have a great team," said McManus. "We're going to go to work over the next couple of days and can't see if we can't get a win here on Friday night." Late Rams Run Downs Lady Bulldogs On Tuesday NightWith five minutes to go in the game the Lady Bulldogs and Lady Rams were tied but Hillcrest went on a 12-3 run to finish the game and capture a 41-32 win on Tuesday night.
The game got started slow as Hillcrest held a 7-5 lead at the end of the first quarter while all five of the Bulldogs points coming from Arissa Edwards and five of the Rams seven points coming from Karessa Hill. The Bulldogs outscored the Rams 10-8 in the second quarter to tie the game at 15-15 when the halftime buzzer sounded but the Rams had clung to a 15-8 lead before the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run over the last three minutes of the quarter. In the third quarter the Bulldogs clawed closer as they were within one at the end of the quarter thanks to six points from Meghan Scharpenberg. Arissa Edwards hit the first shot of the fourth quarter connecting on a three-pointer from the left corner to put the Bulldogs up 27-25 for their first lead of the game. Hillcrest then went on a 4-0 run before Laisha Labra tied the game at 29-29 with just over five minutes to go in the game. At that point is when the Rams went on a 12-0 run that was finally ended when the Bulldogs scored the final three points of the game but it was too late for Boiling Springs as the Rams had sealed the victory. The Bulldogs will next take the court when they host region rival Byrnes on Friday night. Comments are closed.
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