Bulldogs Blast Braves

By Clint Cox

The Marianna Bulldogs came out hitting on all cylinders and went on to post an 81-65 victory over the visiting Walton County Braves. After getting out to a big lead, the Bulldogs struggled the rest of the night with turnovers but still managed to send the Braves packing with a district defeat.

Kendall Leeks, Kruize Pinkins and Tre Long helped get the Bulldogs an early 13-3 lead. Marianna led 18-7 at the end of the first quarter. The Braves however grabbed their war clubs to start the second quarter and pulled to within four points at 20-16. The Braves heated up from the outside while Marianna continued to push the ball up the floor in race horse style action. Tre Jackson’s basket and free throw gave Marianna a 31-22 lead with four minutes to play in the first half. Pinkins gave the Bulldogs a 38-27 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the half. When the first half ended the Bulldog held a 10 point lead of 39-29.

Walton stayed within striking distance with occasional 3 pointers in the third quarter. But the Bulldogs began to display their power as Long knocked down a few baskets and Pinkins had a thundering slam dunk to ignite the Bulldog crowd. Pinkins’ slam put the Bulldogs up by 12 points with three minutes to play in the third quarter. A 3 pointer by Jackson with 1 ½ minutes to play in the quarter put the Dogs up 59-44. Pinkins followed with a put back after a missed shot to push the Bulldog lead to 17 points. Marianna took a 14 point lead into the final quarter but Walton quickly hit a 3 pointer to cut it back to 11. From there the Bulldogs managed to beat off the Braves attack and keep a double digit lead for the remainder of the quarter.

Marianna improved to 19-2 overall and concluded their district schedule unbeaten. The Bulldogs were led by Pinkins with 31 and 8 rebounds. Jackson had 15 points and 6 rebounds while Long added 12 points and 4 rebounds. Leeks was the final player in double figures with 10 points and four rebounds. The Bulldogs will next be in action on Thursday when they host Graceville in a triple header (girl’s Varsity, JV boys and Varsity boys for Senior Night. In JV boys action Marianna posted an 85-54 win over Walton. Anthony Speights led the JV ‘Dogs with 25 points, Emanuel Batson followed with 19 and Cameron Barnes added 12 in the win that improved their record to 14-5.