Bulldogs losing streak reaches seven games
In the middle of the toughest part of its schedule, the Harrisburg boys basketball team played two strong River-to-River opponents last week on their home courts and came away with two 27-point losses to extend its losing streak to seven games.
“We’re trying and we’re giving effort, but we’re pretty much outmatched every game right now,” said Harrisburg coach Andy Fehrenbacher. “But they have good attitudes and we’re going to get better. We’re just going to do the best we can and that’s all I can ask.”
Harrisburg dropped to 4-10 overall and 0-2 in the River-to-River Ohio Division. This week the Bulldogs take to the road Tuesday night to play Mississippi opponent Du Quoin (7-7) before staying on the road Friday to play Ohio Division co-leader Herrin (10-5, 2-1) Friday night and returning to Davenport Gym Saturday night to host Greater Egyptian leader Gallatin County (10-7).
After a full week of practice, the Bulldogs hosted Ohio Division foe Murphysboro (10-5, 1-1 Ohio) Friday and fell behind 8-0 in the first four minutes before closing the gap to four points, 8-4, at the end of the first quarter.
In the first minute and a half of the second quarter Harrisburg still trailed by four, but Murphysboro went on a 10-2 run to take a 12-point lead with 3:05 remaining before halftime.
Grayson Stafford then split a pair of free throws and Quest Weatherington followed with a layup down the lane to cut the lead to nine. After Kemmeon Hale scored, Weatherington split two free throws to cut the lead to 10. With 3.2 seconds left Cash Brooks scored to give the Red Devils a 24-12 lead at the half.
Murphysboro extended its lead to 18 points in the first two and a half minutes of the third quarter and upped it to 19 points with 3:15 remaining. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 15 on a 6-2 run to close out the quarter.
After Stafford opened the fourth quarter making two free throws, the Bulldogs had trouble finding the bottom of the net missing their first eight shots, including three from beyond the arc, as the Red Devils scored 14 straight to up the lead to 27 with 1:24 remaining.
Nash Vallette ended the streak with a jumper from the right side of the lane with 17.5 left. With 8.2 left, Aidan Hankins committed a foul and was called for a technical on the play sending Keegan Shields to line, where the freshman made two of four for the final margin of 52-25.
Harrisburg shot .250 from the field (8-of-32), including 0-10 from beyond the arc, and 9-of-13 from the free throw line. The Bulldogs lost the battle on the boards, 25-13, and the turnover battle, 19-12.
Vallette led the Bulldogs with 11 points. Stafford finished with five, Weatherington three and two each from Brenden Davis, Gage Thomas and Laban Phelps.
Saturday night, Harrisburg invaded Anna-Jonesboro’s “Upper Gym” and the Bulldogs got off to a better start tying the Wildcats, 9-9, with 2:23 left in the first quarter. However, Anna-Jonesboro closed out the quarter on a 9-0 run for an 18-9 lead.
Vallette snapped the run with a basket in the lane 14 seconds after the second quarter throw-in, but the Wildcats stormed back with an 11-2 run over the next six minutes and seven seconds to up the lead to 31-13 with 1:39 left in the half. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 16 at the half, 35-19.
Stafford opened the third quarter with jumper from left on the free throw line, but 1:03 later missed two free throws. The Wildcats scored to get the lead back to 16 and Weatherington cut it back to 14 with 5:50 left in the third, but that was as close as the Bulldogs would get with Anna-Jonesboro leading by 20 at the end of the third quarter.
The Wildcats extended their lead to 31 with 2:26 remaining to trigger the continuous clock rule. Thomas split a pair of free throws with 1:48 remaining and Phelps scored while being fouled and made the free throw to cut the lead back to 27 with 34.9 seconds left. The clock then ran out with the final score, 72-45.
Harrisburg had a better shooting game against Anna-Jonesboro with a .356 shooting percentage (16-of-49) overall, including shooting 2-of-14 from beyond the arc and 10-of-14 from the line.
The Bulldogs finished with three players in double digit scoring led by Stafford with 14 points, including 6-of-8 from the line, and six rebounds, followed by Vallette with 11 for the fourth straight game and the fifth time in the last six games and Weatherington 10. Davis finished with four, Phelps three, Hankins two and Thomas one.