Bulldog Boys Earn First NCC Win of the Season

The Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldogs begin the new year with a rescheduled game from 2022 against the Osage Green Devils.  Looking forward to the second half of the season and with the weather from the beginning, the Bulldog boys have a lot of basketball to play.  They have continued to grow together as a group and look to be playing their best basketball in 2023.  Coach Neisen has to like the growth he has seen from his athletes.

The Bulldogs would not be intimidated by the Green Devils record and were prepared for the game coming out of the break.  The first quarter of the game was a back-and-forth battle, but the Bulldogs found their rhythm in the second quarter and took a 32-25 lead into the half.  The Green Devils would make adjustments at half time though and battle back into the game.  The final quarter saw a continuous back and forth between the teams.  The Bulldogs would lead going into the final possession, but the Green Devils had the ball.  A contested three pointer would find the bottom of the net for the Green Devils to clinch their 63-62 win over the Bulldogs.  Scott Harr would have his 5th double-double of the season, and score a career high in points with 37 and 13 rebounds.  Junior Tucker Heeren added 13 more points and 4 rebounds for the Bulldogs.  Senior Tommy Birdsell led the team in assists with 6.

Friday the Bulldogs traveled to Clarion to take on the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Cowboys in an NCC clash.  The Bulldogs controlled the game from the tip with aggressive defense and accurate shooting and would earn a big 69-56 win over the Cowboys.  The win would be the first in the conference this season and improve their overall record to 2-4 and 1-2 in the NCC.  Scott Harr earned his sixth double-double of the season with 21 points and 18 rebounds.  Will Sackville would also have a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds, Brody Walton scored 14 points on 3 of 5 shooting from behind the arc.

The Bulldogs finished their week by giving back to the community, helping grow the game with the youth of the area by showing up Saturday morning to help out with the Hampton Youth Basketball league that was started this year.  The Bulldogs return to action against NCC opponents with home games on Monday against the Humboldt Wildcats and Friday against the St. Edmond Gaels.