MANCHESTER–Trailing by a point at halftime, the Colonels opened the third quarter on an 8-0 run and never looked back on their way to a 50-35 road victory against the Bull Dogs of Burr and Burton on Saturday morning.
“Early on we were getting the looks but just couldn’t finish” stated Colonel’s Coach, Evan Chadwick.” “I thought we stuck with the game plan despite trailing early and we finally were able to see those shots drop in the second half.”
The Bulldogs found success early by pounding the ball in the paint and winning the rebound battle in the first half, 22-12. The Bulldogs also went 7-11 from the charity stripe while the Colonels failed to go to the line once.
“If anything has been our achilles heal, it has been defensive rebounding,” stated Chadwick. “Credit Burr and Burton, they really dominated the glass in the first half.”
Despite the struggles, the Colonel’s stayed close with transition buckets and forcing Bulldog turnovers. Ayoub Lahjar was dominate inside, scoring 6 points in the first half, while Tristain Evans used a variety of inside moves to score 10.
The Colonels wasted little time jumping out to a double digit lead in the third, changing up to a pressure man-to-man defense that appeared to wear down the Bulldog guards. Josh McKenney hit back-to-back threes while Evans hit one of his own on the way to a 15-4 third quarter and a 35-25 lead.
Any thought of a Bulldog rally was quickly stamped out by the Colonels as they scored the first 5 points of the fourth to expand the lead to 35-20. Waylund Walsh and Connor McPhail had the hot hand as they combined for 10 of the Colonel’s final 13 points to close the contest out and keep the Colonels unbeaten at 3-0.
“We had 9 guys score at least one bucket today,” stated Chadwick. “Out of all things offensively we did well, that was the most important.”
Evans lead the Colonels with 15 points, while Lahjar added 8. Burr and Burton was lead by Will Clark’s 11.
The Bulldogs will get an instant chance at revenge as they travel to Brattleboro for a rematch on Tuesday January 21, with a tip time of 6pm at BUHS.
Bellows Falls Basketball 