Andalusia prevails in Bulldog Battle
Published 8:48 pm Thursday, January 28, 2010
In a showdown of two number-one teams, it was the larger Andalusia Bulldogs who prevailed over the Brantley Bulldogs 63-60 in Brantley on Tuesday night.
Brantley jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead behind the hot shooting of Wesley Person, who had two three-pointers to open the game.
After Andalusia fought back to cut the lead to 16-15 after one quarter, the Covington County boys took the lead and pushed it to as many as seven points in the second quarter.
However, Brantley again came alive from outside and got back in the game to take a 32-31 lead into halftime.
Andalusia led for much of the third quarter, but with six minutes left in the game, Jamie Burnett hit two three-pointers to ignite the crowd and give Brantley a 54-52 lead.
Andalusia retook the lead in the final minutes, and Brantley had a number of miscues near the end that affected the final score, including a double dribble and several missed layups.
A pair of free throws from Quayshun Deason with 14.7 seconds to go iced the game for Andalusia.
For Brantley head coach Jonny Mitchell, the miscues in the final minutes were key.
“Several times we had our shots, but we just didn’t convert,” he said. “They played good, solid defense, but we had a chance to make a play and couldn’t execute. We also had a lot of open looks, and we’ve got to make more of those.”
Size was also a factor in the game, with Brantley giving up a few inches to Andalusia at several positions.
“You have to compensate for that size inside and that frees up other areas,” Mitchell said. “Their guards got a lot of jump shots. We played good on defense to force that, but they just knocked down those shots.”
The Bulldogs are now looking forward to season-ending games against Butler County Magnet School and Luverne before next week’s area tournament, and Mitchell hopes this game will help propel them in those games.
“Last year, we played tough against Andalusia and kind of used that game as a springboard, so hopefully we can do the same thing this year,” he said.
The loss moves the Bulldogs’ record to 19-2 on the season.
Wesley Person led the Bulldogs with 15 points, followed closely by Devante Porter with 13 and Tory Upshaw with 12.