Bulldog Basketball Tours The County

By Clint Cox
The Marianna Bulldogs boys basketball squad began their tour of Jackson County on a winning note last Friday night with a three point shot at the buzzer by Tre Long to pull off a 72-71 win over the visiting Cottondale Hornets. The Bulldogs followed that win with wins against Sneads at home on Monday and at Graceville on Tuesday night. And to round out their tour of the county Marianna will be on the road at Malone on Thursday night.
Friday night’s win against Cottondale was a hard fought battle on both sides. Marianna jumped out to an early 11-2 lead but the Hornets rallied to take a 12-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was a nip and tuck quarter until Marianna went on a last minute run to surge ahead to a 30-23 lead. The third quarter saw the Hornets get on a roll as they outscored the Bulldogs 26-15 and take a four point lead into the final quarter. Nick Jackson hit 5 straight points for Cottondale in the fourth quarter and gave the Hornets a 55-47 lead. Marcus Humose hit a three point moments later to make it a 60-53 lead for the Hornets. With less than two minutes to play Cottondale lead 66-58 and appeared poised to pull off the upset. But Marianna rallied with free throws from R.J. Bowers, a three pointer from Long and a tip in from C.J. Blount. Humose made it a 70-66 lead with 15 seconds left with a free throw but Blount then drove the length of the floor and made a driving layup to make it 70-68 with seven seconds on the clock. That is when Long stepped in front of a Hornet inbound pass, stole the ball and sank a three pointer as the buzzer sounded.
Blount led Marianna with 21 points while Long followed with 17 and Bowers had 12. Drew Bellamy led Cottondale with 14 points. Jacob Herring added 13, Jackson followed with 12 and Humose added 10. In JV action Marianna won 71-51 as Kendall Leeks and Tre Jackson led the Bulldogs with 14 points. Glover led Cottondale with 13 points.
The Sneads Pirates sailed into Marianna on Monday night as both teams entered this early season county matchup unbeaten. And much like the Cottondale battle, this contest went right down to the final seconds, with Marianna pulling out a 59-56 win. The Bulldogs led 17-15 at the end of the first quarter and then 30-26 at the half. The Pirates fought back to tie the game at 40-40 on a 2 pointer by Terrance Pittman midway through the third quarter. After Quan Boykin gave Marianna a 3 point lead Sherrick Williams brought the Pirates to within one by the close of the quarter. The fourth quarter saw Justin Neel hit back to back buckets to give the Pirates a 52-47 lead. The Bulldogs then went on a run and scored 9 straight points as Blount and Long got the hot hands. Leading 56-52 with under three minutes to play the Bulldogs held the Pirates at bay and pulled off the 3 point victory. Bowers led Marianna with 18 points and Long added 11. Sneads was led by Williams with 16 and Neel with 15.
Marianna hit the road on Tuesday and traveled to Graceville to take on the Tigers and with some key free throws down the stretch recorded a 64-54 win. Graceville took the early lead and led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter. Marianna used a 12-2 run in the second quarter, capped off by a three pointer from R.J. Bowers to push out to a 25-17 lead. But the Tigers rallied and with a three pointer from Craig Myrick pulled to within two points at the half.
In the second half the Tigers led by as many as six points as Myrick kept up his hot hand. But Marianna battled back to tie the game at 44-44 going into the final quarter. Myrick hit a couple of free throws and a basket to give Graceville a six point lead early in the fourth quarter but Marianna once again rallied. Quan Boykin tied the game with a couple of free throws and that was followed by a three pointer from Nehimiah Gilbert to put the ‘Dogs up by three. With just under two minutes to play Marianna began cashing in at the free throw line. Bowers, Gilbert, Boykin and Chris Blount combined for 10 straight free throws to propel Marianna to a 10 point victory.
Blount and Tre Long led Marianna, who improved to 4-0 on the season, with 17 points each. Myrick led Graceville, who fell to 2-1 on the season, with 21 points while Cameron Dozier followed with 10. In JV action Marianna edged Graceville 50-47 as Tre Pringley led the Bulldogs with 17 points and Kevin Potts led Graceville with 24 points.