Sulphur’s boys and girls closed out their pre-holiday basketball slate at Byng last Tuesday, each losing nail bitters at the Bill Koller Filed House.
The Sulphur boys (2-3) held a 17-point lead late in the third quarter, but could not hang on and fell as the Pirates rallied to win by two, 60-58. The Sulphur girls were just about as close when the final horn sounded, but lost a three-point thriller, 39-36.
Sulphur head boys coach, Grant Bates, said the Bulldogs ran out of gas on the road.
“We had control for the majority of the game,” said Bates. “We had a 17-point lead with one minute left to go in the 3rd quarter and ultimately ended up losing by 2. I thought our boys played hard, just ran out of gas. It’s still early in the year and we lost our legs and they caught fire. As a coach and a team, sometimes things just seem to go the other team’s way. We are still early in the year and will learn a lot from the loss.”
The Dogs were led in scoring by Bridge Barrett’s 50% field goal shooting and 25 points and Noah Carr’s 54% shooting and 19 points for the night. Garin Watson added five in the losing effort, Dugan Gray 4 and Colten Cole 1, rounding out the Sulphur scorers.
Barrett drilled through five three-pointers in the game while Carr sank a trio of rainbows.
The Dogs jumped out to a 30-22 first-half lead, then upped that margin to 48-33 by end of the third quarter, but the Pirates pumped in 22 points to the Dog’s 10 in the final quarter to grab the win.
“Credit Byng and their ability to make shots in the 4th quarter,” Bates said. “We have had good practices and are committed to learning from our mistakes and improving. It’s tough to lose, but how you bounce back matters much more. I’m excited to get some good practices in over the break and get back on track.”
Despite outscoring Byng, 10-5 in the fourth, the Lady Bulldogs fell just short and lost by two.
Sulphur (1-4) was led by Emily McCage, who hit four three-point baskets and scored 12 in the losing effort. Jayden Lee and Hailey Beesley each sank eight and Jordyn Johnston swished through two three-pointers to round out their scoring.
The game was close from beginning to end as the Lady Pirates clung to a 17-15 first-half lead, then got some breathing room and increased that margin by six going into the final period.
The local girls made up a little of that deficit in the fourth, but ran out of time.
PHOTOS BY CARLEE SUMMERS
