It was a tough week for the Sulphur boys, as the Dogs fell in both contests, losing at Byng and at Pauls Valley.
Sulphur (4-4) lost 60-50 last Tuesday at Byng before falling 49-44 at Pauls Valley on Friday.
“Although there were two losses this week, I thought we got better,” said Sulphur head coach Grant Bates.
“They were the best two teams we have played all year and we competed with them. We just have to clean up some things over Christmas break practices and I think we can come out of the break playing good basketball.”
BYNG 60, SULPHUR 50
Sulphur got behind early but hung around for most of the game before falling late at Byng last Tuesday.
Byng led 22-10 after a quarter, but Sulphur kept pace throughout the middle of the game.
“We got down early but battled the whole night and I was proud of the last three quarters we played,” Bates said. “Just got off to a bad start against a good team where you need four quarters and we weren’t able to do that.”
Sulphur shot just 29% from the floor, while Byng had 10 blocks, utilizing their size on the Dogs.
“They are a really talented team with a lot of size,” Bates said. “They are 6-foot-10, 6-foot-7, 6-foot-4, 6-foot-3 and 6-foot-2, which makes it really tough.”
Byng only had a 43-36 edge on the glass and 30-26 advantage in the paint.
Sulphur led 17-12 in second chance points off of 15 offensive boards.
“We played fearlessly and showed a lot of grit,” Bates said.
Bridge Barret had 14 points and six rebounds to lead Sulphur.
Devin Willis had another nice game, finishing with 12 points and seven rebounds.
Trace Todd continued to play well, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists in the loss.
PAULS VALLEY 49, SULPHUR 44
After getting an early lead and maintaining throughout the first half, Pauls Valley used the crowd and some momentum to pull ahead and hand the Dogs another tough loss.
Sulphur led 25-20 at half and extended it to as much as seven early in the 3rd before Pauls Valley went on a run and pulled in front.
The Panthers went on a 15-0 run and led 35-31 heading into the 4th.
Sulphur tied it up early in the 4th at 35-35 and got back within two midway through the final quarter, trailing 41-39 before the Panthers went on a 7-0 run to put the game away.
“They came in rolling, winning a tournament championship and then beating Purcell on Tuesday for the first time in a long time,” Bates said. “Their environment for the boys game was our toughest of the year. They had a good student section and quite a few fans there to watch the boys play.”
Bates was proud of the way his team managed the raucous crowd through much of the game.
“They are playing with a lot of confidence right now and they came out hot but we were able to make adjustments and be up five at half,” he said. “I felt that we were in control of the game at that point and if we came out in the 3rd and continued the game plan, I felt good about our chances.”
But the run in the 3rd was too much to overcome.
“They were able to turn us over and get us sped up and get some run outs in the 3rd,” he said. “We lost the 3rd quarter 15-6 and they flipped the game.”
Overall, Bates was proud of the way his team played and fought, but just thought Dogs ran out of gas. “I thought we had our chances and played hard,” he said. “We just had a hard time not compounding mistakes when we got tired.”
Sulphur shot 43% from the field and held Pauls Valley to just 39%.
