Bulldogs hold on late to beat Red Devils
In a back and forth contest that came down to the wire, Strong-Huttig held on late to beat Mountain Pine 54-52 in the Chartwell’s Holiday Classic at Lakeside Athletic Complex Wednesday.
Mountain Pine (3-7) went into the fourth quarter with a 43-41 lead, and Fred Williams quickly tied the game for the Bulldogs. Byron Maze gave Strong-Huttig a 47-43 lead with a jumper in transition and forced the Red Devils into a timeout. The Bulldogs built a 50-45 lead, and Mountain Pine called another timeout with 2:01 remaining in the game.
Keelan Dobbins scored on the ensuing inbounds play for the Red Devils, and then Isaiah Miles got fouled while making his layup before sinking the andone free throw to tie the game at 50-50. Then, Strong-Huttig’s LaQuincy Shelton retook the lead at 52-50 with a spinning layup.
“This team has a lot of resilience,” Strong-Huttig head coach Robert Shelton said. “They have a lot of resilience. Once they start playing together they are very, very resilient.”
LaQuincy Shelton added a free throw after an intentional foul to give the Bulldogs a 5350 lead late. However, the Red Devils got a steal and Jayden Walker scored after he secured an offensive board to bring the game within one with 21.3 seconds to play.
After Walker’s basket, Mountain Pine intentionally fouled Treveon Daniels, and Daniels made one of his free throws to eventually set the final.
Before the final buzzer, there was still drama in the final seconds of the game. Dobbins appeared to be in the motion of shooting and got fouled as he sunk his shot in what would have been the game tying action with an and-one free throw opportunity to take the lead.
However, the official who called the foul said it happened on the floor, and the Red Devils turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play.
After another intentional foul, LaQuincy Shelton missed his first free throw and his second was ruled out as his foot crossed the free throw line. Dobbins collected the following inbounds pass and unleashed a half court shot that rimmed around the basket and went out to give the Bulldogs the victory.
“In the fourth quarter we just came out with intensity,” Robert Shelton said. “Kind of grabbed the lead, and they held onto it. They held onto the lead, and they came out a lot more disciplined, a lot more active on defense and the ball kind of went our way.”
Mountain Pine led 30-25 at intermission and jumped out to a 35-25 lead in the third quarter. However, Robert Shelton said hard work and team play led to Strong-Huttig’s comeback.
“Really they just played hard,” he said. “They played hard, they came out more disciplined and they played together. In the first half I don’t think they played together as much, but the second half they played together and they played hard.”
Dobbins led Mountain Pine with 20 points, and Miguel Honey scored 10 for the Red Devils.
Williams led the Bulldogs with 19 points, Maze scored 15 points and LaQuincy Shelton tallied 12 points for Strong-Huttig.
Although the Bulldogs came away with a win, Robert Shelton saw things his team needed to improve on after the close contest.
“Basically we’ve got to go back to work,” he said. “We’ve got to go to practice. It was a close game. It was pretty much close the whole game but I noticed that we are more of a second half team. Really we just have to go to practice and go back to work working on our skills and fundamentals.”