CHS
Cedartown was simply outmatched in the first half; the Patriot defense smothered any chances for open shots and stole passes regularly.
On offense, their play-calls allowed them to seemingly find open lanes to the basket with ease and they made it rain from three-point land. Cedartown trailed 48-23 at halftime.
Although the Bulldogs were down big, they did not quit playing hard. They were able to go on a scoring run in the third quarter and cut the Partriot lead to 9 points before Paulding County went on a run of their own.
Cedartown had glimpses of greatness in the second half, but were unable to capture the victory as they lost 91-74. DJ Frazier led all Bulldog scorers with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Sophomore Jeremiah Johnson added 14 points and 5 rebounds.
MJ Holiday finished with 13 points. Zahquan Frazier was in foul trouble early on, and
thus had to be taken out of the game most of the second half. He tallied 5 rebounds and 7 points- most of which coming in the second half- before fouling out midway through the fourth period. Michael Walker put together another nice performance coming off the bench, scoring 8 points and grabbing 8 rebounds in the losing effort.
Playing against Paulding County may have been tough, but playing against South Paulding was not any easier for Cedartown.
The Spartans came into the game 3-1 on the season with their only loss coming against 6A power Tri Cities in their season opener.
Much like Paulding County, South Paulding also had their fair share of senior leadership, boasting 9 seniors in their 15-boy-roster. Of these 15 players, only one player was shorter than 6 feet tall.
Although they were severely outmatched in size, the Bulldogs were firmly in the game from start to finish. After allowing the Spartans to go on a scoring spurt at the end of the first half, Cedartown went
into the locker trailing 35-20 at the half. Unfortunately, the Bulldogs were not able to close the gap and fell to South Paulding by a score of 67-51.
MJ Holiday continued his impressive freshman campaign with a 12 point performance, leading all Cedartown scorers. Jayden Johnson added 10 points and 7 rebounds. Senior Elijah Pace was able to connect on his first three pointer of the season, scoring 8 points versus the Spartans.
Jeremiah Johnson scored 8 points, and Zahquan Frazier added 6 points and 10 rebounds.
It is no secret that the Bulldogs will be battle-tested when region play opens in January. Cedartown has played 3 tough teams early on in this season.
However, no player likes to lose.
Expect to see them come out with an urgency to win and even up their season record at .500 as soon as possible.
Their next chance to win came on Saturday after, as they traveled north to play the 0-1 Coosa Eagles.