Bulldogs hit hard times, but look to bounce back
It was not the best week at work for the Cedartown Bulldogs basketball team.
The boys lost both of their mid-week games, falling last Tuesday at Central, and losing lopsidedly at Rockmart in a follow-up last Thursday.
At Central, the story of the day was Cedartown’s inability to close out the game successfully. The Bulldogs held a 24-21 advantage at halftime, but then the Lions’ offense woke up. Central’s boys put together their best performance of the season so far, scoring 30 points in the second half. This seemed rather unfortunate for Cedartown, who fell in their second straight region game, losing 51-42.
Despite the loss, senior Bulldogs Elijah Pace and Zahquan Frazier had great offensive nights, scoring 10 points and 9 points respectively; the latter also recorded 13 rebounds, coming just short of a doubledouble. Jayden and Jeremiah Johnson, both sophomores, finished with 8 points each.
Last Thursday evening, Cedartown’s boys traveled to the east side of the county to take on their bitter rivals, the Rockmart Yellow Jackets. This was the second matchup between the two squads this season, with the Bulldogs winning the previous one back in December by a final score of 39-37. This time, the game would not nearly be as close.
The Yellow Jackets came out firing on all cylinders in the first period, and thanks to Sam Depew’s multiple firsthalf three-pointers, Rockmart commanded a 40-24 lead at the half. Cedartown would not be able to get back within 10 in the game.
After going on an early scoring run in the third interval, the Yellow Jackets once away pulled away. This would prove to be too much for the Dawgs, as they suffered a 67-48 loss.
Cedartown now sits at 7-8 overall on the year and 1-2 in region play. Luckily for the Bulldogs, they had a last chance at redemption as the weekend came: they hosted region foe Troup County on Saturday afternoon after press time.
Cedartown was looking for a home win over the Tigers to even their record up at .500 for the season and help regain some momentum heading into this week.
However as the paper was going to bed, Troup
County remained of the most athletic teams in the state of Georgia. Most of their lineup are star players on the Tigers football team that went to the final four of the state playoffs in 2018.
The Bulldogs and Tigers were set to tip off at 5:30 pm on Saturday afternoon at Cedartown High School in a game with major region-standing implications on the line.
This week coming up, the Bulldogs have a trip on Tuesday after press time to Sandy Creek in a region matchup, followed by a home game against Chapel Hill on Friday evening, and a Saturday road trip to Cartersville as the region schedule continues.