Looking to remain undefeated, the Waldron Bulldogs traveled to DeQueen to play the Leopards. With close wins earlier in the week against Ozark and Magazine, the Dogs were sitting at a flawless 5-0, but the Leopards were determined to put a blemish on Waldron’s record.
The Dogs dished out another different starting 5 for the game that included: Ethan Mayberry, Trenton Hunt, Kason Moudy, “Fish” McConnell, and Camdon Holcomb. With the loss of Junior Lidge Stinson to the starting lineup, the Dogs were lacking a lethal ball handler and a major offensive threat.
DeQueen came out in a 2-3 zone defense that has proven to be effective against the Bulldogs, but the Dogs were able to jump out to a 7-2 lead from a Hunt 3 pointer and a Holcomb lay in. The Leopards responded though as they went on a run themselves to gain the lead back at 11-7. The Leopard’s size inside and perimeter shooting proved to be a problem for the Bulldogs all night long. Waldron was forced to switch to a zone defense of their own, and it managed to slow the Leopards down a bit. McConnell and Holcomb added two inside buckets to get the dogs within two, but DeQueen nailed a 3-point attempt as the first quarter expired to leave the Dogs trailing 11-16.
To start the 2nd quarter, DeQueen was still on fire from deep as they quickly added two more 3 pointers to bring the score to 13-23. Holcomb tried to stop the run with a nice post move layup, but the Leopards were simply outworking the Dogs. The Dogs gave up easy transition baskets and allowed too many offensive rebounds. Being down 17-33, the Dogs went on a little run to end the half with three layups coming from Chris Lopez, Jayden McConnell, and Drew Owens to make the score 23-34 at halftime.
The Bulldogs came out with some fire after the half as Holcomb started the scoring as he got a lay-in to fall. Then Trenton Hunt added two big-time 3 pointers to get the dogs within 8 with the score of 31-39. Just as the Bulldogs were starting to get some momentum, DeQueen took it right back. They were able to capitalize on Waldron’s poor transition defense, and they began to throw full-court passes as soon as they grabbed a rebound. They ballooned the lead up to 34-50 to end the 3rd quarter.
In the 4th the Bulldogs were totally out of sync offensively and defensively. They gave up too many easy buckets and were forced to settle for outside jumpers. The Dogs tried to press the Leopards which has been a good move for the Dogs this season, but the Leopards had too many well-rounded ball handlers. After a DeQueen technical foul, the Bulldogs began to score some buckets late but it was too little, too late. The Leopards sent the Bulldogs home with their first loss on the year with the final score being 55-71.
Obviously losing is never a good thing, but this loss should humble the young Bulldogs. They were able to see the areas that the need to improve on and get some kinks worked out before conference play. Losses in November are a lot better than losses in February.
Trenton Hunt led the Bulldogs in scoring with 17 points and 4 rebounds. Holcomb added 16 points and 8 rebounds.
The Bulldogs will travel to Fort Smith, Southside on Monday, November 22 to take on the Mavericks. JV girls will begin action at 5:00 followed by JV boys, Senior girls, and Senior boys.
