Bulldogs storm back for opening victory

HAMPTON – The Bulldog boys’ basketball team led just twice in their home opener on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

Once, on a three-pointer by Malyk Schunk with 2 minutes, 35 seconds left until halftime and then again with 45 seconds on three by Mario De La Cruz when it really mattered and then held on for a 43-38 win over AGWSR.

Second-half momentum kept slowly creeping toward coach Heath Walton’s team as the Bulldogs outscored the Cougars 10-5 in the first 4:17 of the third quarter and cut the AGWSR lead to 28-26 heading into the final eight minutes.

“I think what I was happiest with was that we didn’t come out and feel like we had to come out and get it done in one burst,” Walton said. “We had a lot of chances to not play hard and that would have been easy to do, but…we put ourselves in position throughout the whole game.

“Offensively, in the first half, we were better than a 12-point half. We were hoisting up…it wasn’t like we were going too fast, it was just that we were shooting at game speed and all of the sudden we…shoot shots and it’s a different situation. What I really look forward to is getting back to practice and say, ‘we didn’t shoot the ball well, here is the one reason I think that is: we have to think and work faster.’”

However, AGWSR started to pull away a little to lead 37-29 between the 5:41 to the 3:03 mark of the fourth quarter, by making 5-of-6 free throws, something that was a bit of a problem for the Bulldogs. The comeback started with a three-pointer by Benji Sauke, a nice spin move to the basket by Wyatt Sutter and then a short jumper by Carson Miller that had the Bulldogs trailing 37-36 with 1:34 remaining.

Following 1-of-2 free throws by Luke Starr, who led AGWSR with 13 points, made it 38-36 at the 1:22 mark, the home team then outscored the Cougars 5-0 the rest of the way.

“I thought defensively, we adjusted and played aggressively in the second half,” Walton said. “In the first half, we weren’t where we were supposed to be and didn’t get to our spots. I still think we need to rebound the ball a lot better to be able to move along. It was a good first game out, like I said, we had a chance to fold, but we battled back.”

It was the debut for AGWSR coach Ryley Schipper, whose team led by 10 at the half (22-12).

“I expected Heath’s team to ready to go and to play hard,” Schipper said. “We did, too, for the most part, but I think we panicked at the end, not having a guy yet being a true leader on our team, we’ve got to develop that. Hampton did a good job tonight of playing hard and we haven’t seen a lot of that and that’s something we have to work on moving forward.”

With the Bulldogs clinging to a 39-38 lead and Starr missing a shot, but the ball tied up on a jump and the Cougars retaining possession, Walton called timeout with 13.7 seconds left.

“On the inbounds, we got stuck in man (defense) and we were going to go back to our zone,” Walton said. “I was afraid out of a man inbounds play we were going to get stuck out of position because we don’t run man on inbounds plays. And, out of the timeout we wanted to be sure we understood…that, one, how to defend, and also in the last timeout (called by AGWSR) we didn’t give up the three, if we did, to not foul and to pressure the ball.”

Schipper added, “At that point, it’s draw up a play and try to get the best look possible, also to get the guys to relax. There’s a time you can panic and stuff like that, but if we are not in the right mindset and relaxed enough, we’re not going to be able to run the play, anyways. That’s what we were trying to get them to realize, we’ve still got an opportunity to score here, we’ve just got to execute and I thought Hampton did a good job of sending it and we didn’t execute.”

Out of the time, Sutter twice knocked away the inbounds pass before an illegal screen was called on the Cougars, forcing the turnover and sending Miller to the free throw line for the one-and-one where he hit both foul shots.

Still, AGWSR had another chance to tie it with a three with 12.9 second to go out of the Cougars’ timeout, but Jordan Severs, who led all scorers with 15, stole the ball and was fouled to clinch it.

“We turned it over, got out of what we wanted to run,” Schipper said, “we didn’t get into the set we wanted to and we kind of panicked, ‘now what do we do next?’ That’s the situation where, when you develop a leader who will step up and say, ‘hey, it’s my time now, I’ll come get the ball and do that.’ Overall, I thought our guys played hard and I’m happy with that and we have to see what happens going forward.”

Severs, however, was 5-of-11 from the free throw line, missing his first four foul shots, all in the first half. He started the game, going from role player in the latter part of last season to the point to where he’s at now. The progression for the junior has been great.

“Good,” Walton said of Severs, “but you watch the game, he is 10 points more if he makes his free throws and shots around the rim. He made perimeter jump shots and missed the shots around the rim. This something we’ll stress with him and try to move forward. I know he’ll work to move forward.”

Schipper won’t let this opener ruin his team’s season since he knows it’s a long schedule ahead.

“In practice, I have to put them in more pressure situations, so we can develop that calm attitude when things start to go not as planned,” Schipper said. “Things aren’t always going to go the way we thought they would and to reassure them that shots are going to fall. We had a lot of good looks tonight and we didn’t make shots and that’s something that I told them all year. We’ve got to make shots or we’re not going to win a lot of games.

“We reassure them that they’re going to make shots and move forward. I’m excited to keep moving forward and not let this game affect us moving forward.”

Bulldogs 43, AGWSR 38

AGWSR (0-1, 0-0) –Daniel Stahl 2 0-0 6, Jaden Penning 3 3-4 11, Ben Macy 0 0-0 0, Chase Harms 1 0-0 3, Luke Starr 4 4-8 13, Riley Sicard 1 0-0 2, Titan Opperman 0 1-2 1. Totals 11 8-14 38.

Bulldogs (1-0, 0-0)– Malyk Schunk 1-2 0-0 3, Jace Spurgeon 3-6 0-0 7, Drew Uhlenhopp 1-5 0-2 2, Benji Thomas 0-2 0-0 0, Wyatt Sutter 2-6 0-1 5, Benji Sauke 1-2 0-0 3, Carson Miller 1-5 2-2 4, Mario De La Cruz 1-4 0-0 3, Jordan Severs 4-13 5-11 15, Colin Hill 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 14-46 8-18 43.

AGWSR       7   15     6   10      -   38

Bulldogs      3     9   14   17      -   43

Three-point goals – AGWSR 6 (Stahl 2, Penning 2, Harms, Starr); H-D 7-20 (Severs 2-5, De La Cruz 1-1, Schunk 1-2, Sauke 1-2, Spurgeon 1-3, Sutter 1-5, Miller 0-1). Rebounds– AGWSR NA; Bulldogs 30, 5 off. 25 def. (Uhlenhopp 10, Severs 8, Sutter 4, Miller 4, Spurgeon, Sauke, De La Cruz, Hill). Assists– AGWSR, NA; Bulldogs 13 (Spurgeon 4, Miller 3, Uhlenhopp 2, Severs 2, Sutter, De La Cruz). Steals– AGWSR, NA; Bulldogs 8 (Sutter 2, De La Cruz 2, Severs 2, Spurgeon, Miller). Blocks– AGWSR, NA; Bulldogs 1 (Hill). Total fouls– AGWSR, NA; Bulldogs 11. Fouled out – AGWSR (Sicard); Bulldogs, None.