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Fourth quarter collapse dooms Bulldogs

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in basketball, Sports.

When the final horn sounded the Knights had a 71-51 win in the opening round of the Island Beach Blowout at Fort Walton Beach High School.

“We had key turnovers in key situations and we just didn’t shoot it very well in the end,” Bulldog coach Greg Watson said. “You can’t do that against a really good team. We go from being within a possession of taking the lead to getting beat by double digits just like that.

“We don’t have a big margin of error. We can’t just pound people inside and we don’t shoot it well enough to spread people out and shoot a bunch of threes. Sometimes we struggle to score and it makes every possession very important.”

As quick as a Tennessee tornado the Knights hit the Bulldogs with all of their furry.

Crestview was still in striking distance with 3:58 left in the game. A Jones’ basket cut the Knight lead to 49-46. The final 3:58 belonged to John Paul.

“We were right there and had a chance,” Watson said. “We are so limited size wise it makes it tough.

“It was back-and-forth, back-and-forth and they hit some outside shots and we still haven’t made very many. When they started making those, it pushed it out (of reach).”

Early on it looked as if the Knights would make short work of Crestview. They started the game with a 7-0 run and led 19-10 at the end of the first quarter.

A Jarron Talley basket with 4:25 left in the second quarter gave John Paul its biggest lead of the first half at 28-13. With Jones leading the way the Bulldogs cut the lead to 32-25 at the half.

Lazarius Parks started the Bulldog rally with a basket inside. Jones scored and Josiah Klauser kept the Bulldogs rolling with a basket.

Jace Green and Brayden Jones each hit a free throw, Makhi Jones hit a 3-pointer and Devin Davis scored on a driving layup as the half ended.

Makhi Jones scored seven of Crestview’s 13 points in the third quarter on his way to a game-high 27 points. Lorenzon Blackwell hit a 3-pointer, Klauser scored and Jacob Moulton hit a free throw.

A.J. Johnson and Braylon Phillips picked up their only baskets of he night for Crestview in the fourth quarter.

Brayden Jones hit another free throw and Makhi Jones scored eight points in the fourth quarter to finish his impressive performance. But Makhi Jones was the only Bulldog in double figures.

Klauser and Johnson each scored four points to tie for second leading scorers for Crestview.

The outside shooting of the Knights led by Talley and the inside play of Antonio Wilkinson and Kamden Days was too much for Crestview to overcome down the stretch.

Gators take down Chiefs

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in basketball, Featured Sports.

Only four Gators scored. Three scored in double figures led by Owen Broome’s 21 points on seven 3-point baskets. Andrae Jackson was right behind Broome with 20 points and Joshua Prows took care of business in the paint with 16 points.

Stephen McCosker was the other Gator to score, missing double figures by a point as he finished with nine. McCosker did have double digit rebounds.

“We played well tonight,” Baker coach Brent Zessin said. “It’s a good way to go into Christmas break. We had 10 threes tonight and that helps us when we can extend the defense and Joshua can do his work inside.

“Owen had seven 3s. He’s a good shooter in practice and he just hasn’t played very much. The good thing with other kids being out is he is getting to play a lot and he’s getting comfortable.”

Prows, a junior who returned to the lineup after a two-game absence due to a health scare, let his presence on the inside be known from the outset of the game. He scored the first basket of the night with 1:05 gone in the first period and had six of his 16 points in the first quarter.

Jackson hit Baker’s first 3-point basket of the game with 6:25 left in the period to put the Gators up 5-4.

McCosker scored with 3:32 left in the quarter to break a 7-7 tie and give the Gators a lead they held the rest of the way. Broome hit his first shot from deep with 1:28 in the first and Baker was off and running.

The Gators led 20-13 at the end of the first quarter and 31-21 at the half.

Broome hit three 3-pointers in the third quarter as the Gator lead went to 46-32.

The scoring firm of Broome, Jackson and Prows continued to lead the Gators in the fourth quarter as they pulled away for the win.

Zessin said Broome being a scoring threat takes the pressure of Jackson and forces the opposition to defnd the whole court.

Many things such as hustle plays and tough defense that don’t show up in the scorebook and Levi Hunter was able to make a lot of those kind of plays giving Prows a breather in the paint. The Gators used a zone defense forcing the Chiefs to play a one-dimensional game from the outside.

“Joshua was hungry,” Zessin said of Prows. “He was very hungry. Levi was too tonight. He played very well. When you have to sit out, it makes you hungry.”

Lady Eagles take down Crestview

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in basketball, Sports.

However, Niceville won the second and third quarters 35-18. In the end the Lady Eagles soared to a 54-37 win.

Things would have gone much worse for Crestview if not for the outstanding play of sophomore Natalie Toney. Toney was the leading scorer in the game with 25 points. She scored nine of those points in the second quarter and 11 in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Bulldogs were down 52-20 at the end of the third quarter. Niceville needed just three points to hit the 35-point lead needed to start the running clock.

After a basket by Toney and a score by Niceville’s Kiyah Hatcher Crestview still trailed by 32 points with six minutes left in the game. The Lady Eagles didn’t score again as the Lady Bulldogs closed the game on a 15-0 run.

While disappointed with the final score, Crestview coach Connor Williams found plenty of positives to take from the game.

“We had a hard talk today and hit the reset button,” he said. We said whatever has happened has happened. We’ve still got a lot of basketball to play and maybe we can turn this thing around.

“When you lose basketball games it’s easy for the negativity to breed with myself, the coaches and the players. It was kind of about us getting on the same page. I think we learned a lot tonight and I’m encouraged by the team and the fight we showed.”

The Lady Eagles start four players that are 5-foot-10 or taller and their length on the defensive end of the court gave Crestview problems much of the game.

Kennedy Baluran scored the only Lady Bulldog basket of the first quarter with 2:45 left in the quarter. At the time of the scored, Niceville led 5-2. The Lady Eagles scored 12 quick points to close out the period before dominating the middle half of the game.

Crestview only had five players score. Baluran followed Toney in scoring with six points for the Lady Bulldogs. Emily Baker scored three points, Madyson Boydstun two points and Karma Rhodes one point.

Crestview crushes Choctaw

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in basketball, Sports.

And, as the old saying goes, the game wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.

Three nights after Bulldog coach Greg Watson had plenty of concerns following a double-digit home win over Pace, he had no complaints in the way his team handled an always tough Indian team.

“This is absolutely the best game we’ve played this year,” he said. “The way we moved the ball (on offense to find the open shooter), the way we played defense.

“I’ve been telling you for the past couple of weeks that’s how we can play. We finally put it together and played a good all-around game.”

As has been the case throughout the season, Makhi Jones again led the Bulldogs (5-2) in scoring. Jones scored 24 points.

Friday night he had help carrying the load with Josiah Klauser and Brayden Hall joining him in double figures. Klauser scored 12 point and Hall added 11. For good measure, Lorenzo Blackwell scored nine points on three 3-point baskets.

It wasn’t just the balanced scoring that was a part of the winning formula. As Watson said, the Bulldogs played good aggressive defense. Braylon Phillips had a couple of key steals and scores in the second quarter.

Michael Foley, the center on the football team turned undersized post player, boxed out and was a human floor burn taking charges and diving for balls on the floor.

Every Bulldog played their role on the team to near perfection Friday night.

Choctaw took a quick 4-0 lead before Blackwell hit the first of his 3-point baskets. Klauser scored seven of his 12 points in the first quarter and Foley scored his only points of the night as the Bulldogs kept things close.

Phillips scored all of his points in the second quarter to help spark Crestview. Jones scored his first five points of the night, Blackwell connected for another 3-pointer and Jacob Moulton and Brayden Jones scored their only points of the game.

A 3-point basket by Jones with 6:30 left in the first half gave Crestview a 19-18 lead. The Bulldogs led the 28-23 at the break and pulling away in the third quarter.

A basket by A.J. Johnson with 6:39 left in the third gave the Bulldogs the lead they didn’t relinquish the rest of the way.

Crestview out scored Choctaw 27-11 in the third quarter with Jones scoring 13 points. Hall scored nine in the quarter.

The largest Bulldog lead of the night came with 92 seconds left in the fourth quarter when Klauser scored Crestview’s last basket and the lead was 69-43. Choctaw scored the last five points of the game, but by then the outcome had long been decided.

West Florida Baptist downs Gators

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in basketball, Sports.

With so many teammates out of action, Andrae Jackson tried to carry the load scoring 34 points. Jackson’s 34 points combined with the 12 points from the rest of the Gators weren’t enough as the WFB took a 61-46 win.

Baker coach Brent Zessin had no complaints. In fact he was proud of the way the Gators responded to the adversity.

“We played hard tonight but we ran out of gas,” Zessin said. “But they’re a good team and they made their shots.

“I’ve got a saying, ‘Do your best and God is going to do the rest.’ They (the Gators) did that tonight.”

Hunter’s lone score and Jackson’s first basket of the game gave Baker a 4-0 lead with just less than four minutes left in the first quarter.

The Conquerors pulled ahead 6-4 before Jackson hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 6-6 with 1:54 left in the quarter. Stewart Brown hit a 3-point basket with 32 seconds left in the first quarter to put the visitors up once and for all. WFB was up 10-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Baker, as was the case in the first quarter, managed just eight points. Jackson scored five points and Owen Broome hit a 3-pointer.

The Conquerors outscored Baker 21-8 in the second period to take control of the game with a 31-16 lead at the half.

Jackson exploded for 17 points in the third quarter, which was all of Baker’s points in the period. In fact, Jackson outscored West Florida Baptist 17-12 in the quarter. Even so, the Conquerors led 43-33 heading into the final eight minutes of play.

WFB outscored Baker 18-13 in the fourth quarter. Jackson finished out his strong game with six points in the period. Stephen McCosker chipped in five points and Chase Gavin two points for the Gator effort.

Zessin knows that “the rest” God does isn’t always going to come in the form of a victory on the court or playing field. He uses athletics as a character builder for life after the kids have played their final game.

“You always going to have adversity in life,” he said. “What I want are attitude, effort, character and class. We had effort tonight. They played hard.

“At the end of the game, their attitude was great. In the locker room, they they’re patting each other on the back.”

It’s the hard losses as the one Thursday night that will teach the Baker players the most important lessons of life.

“I talk about more than just basketball,” Zessin said. “I try to teach them life skills. I can’t remember half the games I played (in high school). But I do remember my coach and the enthusiasm for having taught me the things that last me to this day.”

Lady Cats too strong for Lady Gators

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in basketball, Sports.

It did keep Paxton from reaching a 35-point advantage that would have started the running clock.

Baker coach Chelsea Medley admitted her strategy was to keep the ball away from Paxton as much as possible in the second half.

“If they don’t have the ball, the can’t score,” she said. “I was tired of watching them score so that’s what we did.

“They have a great team with a lot of great shooters. They are very fundamental and disciplined. They played great defense.”

Always a contender come playoff time, Paxton used a smothering full-court press and zone defense to keep the Lady Gators out of sync throughout the game.

Paxton took a quick 6-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game before Lily Adams finally connected for a basket with 3:01 left in the first quarter. Adam’s basket was Baker’s only score in the first quarter as the  Lady Cats led14-2 at the end of the period.

Even with Paxton in control, the quarter wasn’t without some drama and controversy.

Late in the period, a Paxton player committed a hard foul on Baker’s Addison Cadenhead. The officials ruled that both players had attempted to throw punches after the hard common foul and they were given a technical and ejected from the game.

Video evidence shows that Cadenhead never attempted to throw a punch.

The double technical aside, Baker should have been allowed to have a player shoot free throws for the common foul on Cadenhead as she was in the act of shooting. However, they seemingly incorrectly ruled that it was a dead ball technical, which came after the original common foul, and Baker wasn’t given the free throws.

Adams scored five points for Baker in the second quarter. McKenzie McGraw scored the first two of her team-high 12 points in the quarter and Chyanne Case chipped in a free throw.

As Baker was scoring eight points Paxton was scoring 18 to go up 32-10 at the half.

The Lady Cats scored 11 unanswered points to open the third quarter. Paxton was a basket away from the 35-point lead and the running clock with 2:07 remaining in the period.

That running clock was never to be.

McGraw hit a 3-point basket with 1:40 left in the third to cut Paxton’s lead to 30.

Paxton led 46-13 at the start of the fourth quarter, but seven unanswered points by McGraw and a nice game of keep away kept the Lady Cats from ever reaching the 35-point mark. Maddie Mills hit a free throw for Baker in the fourth quarter to complete the Lady Gator scoring.

Bulldogs too strong for Patriots

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in basketball, Featured Sports.

“We did a lot of good things, but you know, I’m always looking at the bad things,” Watson admitted. “It was just an ugly game. The pace was just slower than we want.

“We couldn’t make a shot. We had silly turnovers that made the game just sloppy. Cut out those mistakes and it’s more than 14-point game without the turnovers.”

Even in a sloppy game, with silly turnovers, the Bulldogs took control early and overcame the mistakes.

Makhi Jones put the Bulldogs in front scoring the game’s first goal with less than 15 seconds off the clock. A bucket by A.J. Johnson with 6:38 left in the first quarter made it 4-0 in favor of Crestview.

Back-to-back baskets by Joeseph Skipworth and Tylon Lee pulled Pace even at 4-4 with 4:24 left in the first quarter.

Jones scored with 4:14 left in the quarter to put Crestview in front for good. Jones scored the last basket of the first quarter as the Bulldogs led 8-4 as the period came to an end.

Crestview outscored Pace 15-10 in the second quarter with Johnson leading the way with six of his eight points on the night.

Jones, the leading scorer in the game with 26 points, scored four in the second quarter. Devin Davis hit was Crestview’s only 3-point basket of the night in the second period and Josiah Klauser picked up his first score of the night as the Bulldogs led 23-14 at the half.

Crestview added four more points to the lead in the third quarter outscoring the Patriots 14-10. Brayden Hall provided a spark on both ends of the floor for the Bulldogs pressuring the Patriots on defense and scoring twice.

Pace was able to play Crestview even in the final quarter as the Bulldogs (4-2) were only able to add a point to the lead as they won their third-consecutive game.

Jones was the only Bulldog in double figures. Klauser joined Johnson with eight points to tie as the second-leading scorers for Crestview.

A three-game winning streak is nice, but Watson knows the Bulldogs must stop making the silly mistakes if they want to make a run at the district title and beyond.

“We had a bunch of rebounds that just fell and hit us in the hands and dropped out of bounds,” he said. “There was some weird stuff going on.

“We’ll take it (the win), any of them at this time of year you’ll take. But we’ve got to get better to get to where we want to.”

Bulldogs take thriller from Niceville

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in basketball, Featured Sports.

Crestview went on a 10-run in the final 82 seconds of play to steal the win 58-55.

The Bulldogs sealed the game in the final five seconds when the Eagles, trailing by a point, missed a pair of free throws and Josiah Klauser sealed the deal for Crestview with a pair of free throws with 1.7 seconds showing on clock.

“That’s a lot of pressure on a high school kid,” Bulldog coach Greg Watson said referring to the missed Eagle free throws. “But I love it for us. This is a great game for us because we didn’t play well.

“We were able to finally make a few plays because it looked like the game was over for us with about two minutes to go. Everything that could go wrong had. But we had a couple of kids make some plays.”

Klauser was one of the kids making plays, scoring four of his 11 points in the final 62 seconds of the game.

Makhi Jones, as always seems to be the case for the Bulldogs, was another Crestview player making plays as were Lorenzo Blackwell and A.J. Johnson.

Jones was the game’s leading scorer with 21 points. Johnson joined Jones and Klauser in double figures with 10 points.

Crestview jumped to a quick lead in the first quarter and led 18-10 seven minutes into the first quarter. Jones scored seven points in the quarter, Johnson four points, Blackwell three points on a 3-pointer and Brayden Hall had four points.

Hall’s four points in the first quarter were his only points of the game. Without those four points by Hall in the first six minutes of the game, Crestview very well could have lost the game.

The Bulldogs (3-2) led 18-13 at the end of the first quarter and 28-25 at the end of the half.

The Eagles dictated the pace of the game in the latter stages of the first half and throughout most of the third and fourth quarters. Niceville’s slow down style of play took the Bulldogs out of their pressure defense and pressing the ball down the floor on offense.

As the Eagles played their style of ball they were able to move in front for the first time with 10 seconds left in the third quarter when Jackson Hamman hit a 3-pointer. Niceville outscored Crestview 17-13 in the third quarter, but the problems were just getting started for the Bulldogs.

The Eagles seemed to have taken control of the game with four minutes left as they led 51-43.

That’s when the Bulldogs showed that quality of a championship team and the mental toughness to find a way to win.

Crestview went on a 15-4 run in those final four minutes to take the win.  

Dolphins down Bulldogs

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in basketball, Sports.

“I think they beat us pretty much at everything tonight; offense, defense, rebounding, turnovers,” he said. “We didn’t deserve to win.

“They shot a bunch of threes. We talked about it in practice and we talked about it before the game about running them off the 3-point line and making them shoot mid-range twos. It doesn’t matter how much you game plan if you don’t go out and execute.”

The Dolphins connected on nine 3-pointers, with five of them coming in the second quarter.

The 3-pointers were the difference in the game as the Bulldogs hit five threes good for 15 points with the nine 3-point baskets by the Dolphins being good for 27 points.

Crestview hit three more 2-point baskets and Gulf Breeze hit one more free throw.

It didn’t take long for the barrage of threes to start for the Dolphins.

Roman Jackson hit a 3-pointer for Gulf Breeze 37 seconds into the game. A Makhi Jones 3-point basket for the Bulldogs tied the score at 3-3 with less than a minute gone in the first quarter.

A free throw by Jones at the 6:07 mark in the first quarter gave CHS a 4-3. Crestview’s last lead of the game was 6-5 with 4:12 left in the first quarter. Braylon Phillips took the ball the length of the floor after a steal and scored.

The Dolphins then went on an 11-0 run that lasted into the second quarter when AJ Johnson scored for the Bulldogs with 7:01 left in the period.

Gulf Breeze maintained a nine or 10 point lead the remainder of the first half as the teams traded baskets.

Jones had 10 of his game-high 21 points at the first half to keep the Bulldogs within striking distance as Gulf Breeze led 33-24 at the break.

The Bulldogs (1-2) made a game of it in the third quarter closing to within a point of the Dolphins at 40-39 on a Josiah Klauser basket with 2:56 left in the frame.

Gulf Breeze proceeded to go on another 9-0 run to put the game out of reach.

The biggest Dolphin lead of the night came with 96 seconds left in the fourth quarter at 61-48.

Crestview closed on the game on a 7-1 run with Lorenzo Blackwell hitting a 3-pointer with five seconds showing on the clock.

Blackwell followed Jones in scoring for Crestview with 11 points. Klauser scored seven points and Johnson six point. No other Crestview player had more than two points.

“I watched our team practice the other day and we looked like we were fired up and ready to go,” Watson said. “We were moving the ball on offense and playing defense. And then we get in the game and so far and none of that is there.

“I have no explanation for it. I don’t understand it. I blame myself I guess for not getting the team ready to play.”

Lady Gators roll past Aletheia

Written by Randy Dickson on . Posted in basketball, Sports.

The only question that remained as the teams took the floor for the start of the third quarter was how soon the running clock would start. A 3-pointer by Lily Adams with 2:27 left in the third quarter.

When the final horn sounded, the Lady Gators had 56-8 win.

McKenzie McGraw was Baker’s top scorer leading a quartet of Lady Gators in double figures with 15 points. Chyanne Case had 11 points and Adams and Kat Price each had 10 points. Addison Cadenhead scored six points and Maddie Mills four points to round out Baker’s scoring

McGraw got off to a fast start scoring five points in the first quarter to go along with four points each from Adams and Price.

The pattern repeated itself several times throughout the game.

Case led the Baker charge in the second quarter her first five points. She scored her other six points in the fourth quarter.

Many of the Lady Gator basketball players were members of the state championship volleyball team and have only been on the basketball court three weeks as also is the case with head coach Chelsea Medley.

“It takes a little while, especially coming off such a high, to transition to basketball, Medley said. “It just takes a little while to buckle back down and get your feet on the ground.”

Baker dropped the opener at Paxton on Monday and Medley said being at home really helped the Lady Gators get into a groove.

“I think it helped us relax playing in our own gym tonight,” Medley said. “The balls fall and you know what it takes to win a basketball game.

“And then we played really well on defense. We out rebounded them on both ends of the floor and we got several steal. Defense is what’s going to drive this team and takes the pressure off the offense.”

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