Bulldogs win Team Camp title

The Marianna Bulldogs rallied from eight points down in the second half to beat the Houston County Lions and win the Chipola Team Basketball Camp tournament Saturday at Chipola.

Marianna outscored Houston County 22-11 over the final nine minutes to take the 59-56 victory.

Tre Jackson led the Bulldogs with 18 points, with Nene Gilbert adding 15 — all in the second half. RJ Bowers had 11 and Kruize Pinkins 10.

The camp started Thursday, with games continuing Friday before a single-elimination tournament Saturday.

Cottondale defeated Malone 59-43 earlier in the day, The Hornets were then eliminated by the Bulldogs 54-41.

The win put Marianna in the title game against the Lions, who had just defeated Bainbridge 60-57.

Marianna got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 15-8 lead after a 3-point play by Bowers.

Houston County rallied to take the lead on a 3-pointer with 3:18 left in the first half, to go up 20-19.

The Lions led 25-23 at halftime, and extended the lead to 39-33 midway through the second half.

A steal and layup put Houston County up 45-37 with just over nine minutes to play.

However, the Bulldogs raced back down the court and Jackson converted a 3-point play to make it 45-40.

Consecutive buckets by Gilbert cut the lead to just a point, at 45-44, with 7:05 left to play.

After a Houston County basket, Jackson converted another 3-point play to tie the game at 47-47 with 5:45 to play.

A 3-pointer by Gilbert gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the second half at 50-49 with 4:40 on the clock.

The Bulldogs started to pull away later on with a 3-point play by Fidel Montgomery, to give Marianna a 57-52 advantage with 1:15 to play.

However, the Lions came back down with a quick two, followed by a steal and bucket to get back to within a point with 52.5 seconds to play.

The Lions’ pressure defense forced another turnover on Marianna’s ensuing possession, but Houston County couldn’t capitalize with a bucket.

Montgomery was fouled for a 1-and-1 with 24.9 seconds on the clock and missed. But Gilbert got his hands on the rebound to force a jump ball, with the possession arrow favoring the Bulldogs.

Marianna was able to run the clock down to 7.6 seconds before Bowers was fouled.

Bowers made both free throws and the Lions were unable to convert a 3-point attempt as time expired.

MHS coach Travis Blanton said he was happy about what his team got out of the three-day camp.

“I think the whole camp was a success, regardless of whether we won or lost,” he said. “I think the kids get a lot out of it. They did a good job of playing
together, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us. I was pleased with the effort, though.”

Blanton said he thought the Lions may have started to tire in the second half with their second straight game, but the coach said the Bulldogs’ 3-point loss to
Houston County on Friday may have helped contribute to his team’s energy.

“We had fresh legs,” the coach said. “nd losing to them (Friday) definitely motivated our kids. But the big thing for us and all the teams here wasn’t as much to win but to get better. I think we did.”