Raiders’ championship pursuit falls short
Corey Burks. Joshua Young had 17 points and nine rebounds.
Sterling didn’t help itself with its poor shooting. The Raiders were 21-of-58 (36.2 percent) from the field.
They really struggled in the first quarter, in which they were 3-of-15 from the field.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well from the beginning,” Andrea Young said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well, and we didn’t stop them.
“They did a wonderful job. They shot the ball real well, and we didn’t. That was to our detriment tonight.” Slow start, fast finish
Still, the game was tight early until the latter stages of the first quarter, when the Bulls finished the final 1:45 of the period with an 8-2 run. That gave Bridgeport a 14-9 lead, and the Bulls expanded it to 30-16 with 1:39 remaining in the second quarter following a string of three straight treys — two from Patterson and one from Smith.
The Raiders never got closer than 14 after that.
“The game started slow,” Bridgeport coach Alan Green said. “We got into a half-court game with them. I think we had a 10-1 run in the second quarter, and that extended the lead until the half.”
It set the tone for an easy victory for the Bulls. Their success began and ended with Patterson, Smith, Holdman and Chapman, who transferred into Bridgeport this school year.
A year ago, they played for a home-school team, the Flower Mound Rebels from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The transfers brought life to a program that was coming off a 12-17 season and had just two returning lettermen.
Andrea Young said he didn’t know much about Bridgeport as he prepared for the state tournament.
“No one knew anything about them,” Young said. “That’s the way it goes sometimes with transfers, move-ins and whatnot. As long as it’s legal, it’s all right.”
Young said he hoped everything concerning Bridgeport’s transfers was above board.
He recalled something former Oklahoma Sooners coach Jeff Capel said: “I love my job, but I hate my profession because people — no matter what profession you’re in — not everyone is going to do right.
“I know me, personally, myself, I play by the rules.” Transfers’ impact
Bridgeport’s transfers had a heavy hand in the Bulls’ semifinal victory as well.
They scored all of the Bulls’ points in a 68-60 victory over Dallas Madison at the Alamodome.
Despite the loss, Sterling hopes to build from its first trip to state.
“I feel like we’ve laid the foundation for the Sterling Raiders, and I feel like there will be more state runs to come besides us,” Sterling senior center Curglon Wesley said. “We have inspired our neighborhoods, community and school to push ourselves to be better.”