Bulldogs Down Pirates

By Clint Cox
The Marianna Bulldogs captured two wins in Sneads as both the varsity and junior varsity squads brought home victories over the Pirates. In varsity action the Bulldogs posted a 61-40 win as Kruise Pinkins led the squad with 18 points. Marianna led by three points (15-12) after the first quarter and then expanded that led to 10 points during the second quarter. Sneads was held to just one point for more than half the quarter but then mounted a rally and trailed 23-18 at the half. In the third quarter Marianna began to pull away from the Pirates as R.J. Bowers hit a 3 pointer to make 28-20. C.J. Blount then recorded back to back buckets and the Bulldog lead swelled to 35-20. The Pirates on the scoring of Justin Neel and Terrance Pittman mounted a small rally to cut it to a 11 point game before Marianna hit a couple of shots and led 44-30 at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter Marianna outscored Sneads 17-10 to secure the 19 point victory. Marianna, now 15-6 on the season, also got 13 points from C.J. Blount and 8 points from R.J. Bowers. Sneads, which fell to 11-8 on the year, was led by Justin Neel with 14 points and Allen Patterson with 8.
In junior varsity action two of the county’s better JV squads squared off as entering the contest the JV Bulldogs and JV Pirates had a combined record of 30 wins and just 3 losses. Marianna jumped out to an early 10-2 lead and then led 28-12 at the half. Sneads battled back in the second half though and cut the Bulldog lead to 10 points going into the final quarter. The JV Pirates kept up their rally but it came up a little short as Marianna prevailed 49-46. Marianna, which improved to 17-2 on the season, was led by Tre Pringley with 11 and Tre Jackson with 8. Sneads, which fell to 14-2 (both losses to Marianna), was led by Darryl Johnson with 16, Will Holmes with 13 and John Whittington with 10.