Spruce Mountain senior guard Kayle Stewart (0) goes airborne against Hall-Dale at The Nest in Jay on Thursday night. (Sun Journal photo by Tony Blasi)
JAY — Spruce Mountain’s unrelenting defense triggered numerous turnovers against Hall-Dale, but when it came time to put the ball in net during those decisive, waning minutes of the game, the Phoenix came up short in this Mountain Valley Conference boys’ basketball showdown Thursday night.
The adamant Bulldogs held on to their precious one-point lead for the final two minutes of the game to hand the Phoenix their first defeat of the season with a 47-46 victory before a packed crowd at The Nest.
Spruce (6-1) was presented with a handful of opportunities to finish off Hall-Dale (6-1) in those final minutes, but several choice shots never slipped through the net.
“I thought we did a great of job of executing our defensive game plan,” Spruce Mountain coach Scott Bessey said. “First quarter, we were able to take those turnovers and score. From that point, the defense maintained. The defense was still a great effort. They might have gotten too many offensive rebounds, second-chance points.
“But I thought we continued to turn them over. We turned them over 21 times, against a good team and we have to win that game. You give a good team that many chances, you are going to lose. You hold a team like Hall-Dale, one of the best teams in Class C, one of the best teams in our conference, you hold them to 47 points, you have got to win. The only way you don’t is you struggle offensively.”
The teams were locked in a 36-36 tie heading into the fourth quarter , in which the lead changed hands several times thanks to turnovers.
With 4:14 left in the final stanza, 6-foot-5 senior Ashtyn Abbott went under the hoop and scored two of his game-high 16 points to give the Bulldogs a precarious 45-44 lead.
Spruce Mountain senior forward Andrew Shaw drove to the net for two of his 10 points 23 seconds later and Spruce was back up 46-45.
But who knew that with 2:05 left in the game that the Bulldogs’ Alec Baldwin’s two points would hold up.
For the next couple of minutes, Spruce frustratingly watched several shots avoid spilling into the net, allowing Hall-Dale to hang to its 47-46 win.
“They forced us to play a lot of really, really good defense down the stretch,” Hall-Dale coach Chris Ranslow said. “And I don’t know whether it was great defense or we got some potluck on the home court, but I don’t know, we found a way to do it.
“They worked really, really hard. They played space well. I thought we did a better job hedging and helping.”
In the first quarter, Spruce conjured up an 18-4 lead, but Phoenix’s offense cooled off in the second quarter and allowed the Bulldogs to march right back, with the teams heading into halftime tied at 22-22.
The third quarter was another neck-and-neck battle, which resulted in another tie heading into the fourth quarter.
Besides Abbott’s 16 points, Tim Cookson threw in nine and Patrick Rush added eight.
The hard-driving Kayle Stewart scored a team-high 13 points for Spruce, while teammate Brandon Frey dropped in 10.
Spruce Mountain senior forward Tate Walton (23) takes to the air on layup as teammate and junior guard Brandon Frey (2) watches during a game against Hall-Dale at The Nest in Jay on Thursday night. (Sun Journal photo by Tony Blasi)
Spruce Mountain senior guard Kayle Stewart (0) goes airborne as teammate Brandon Frey (2) watches during a game against Hall-Dale at The Nest in Jay on Thursday night. (Sun Journal photo by Tony Blasi)
Spruce Mountain senior forward Tate Walton (23) takes to the air on layup as teammate and junior guard Brandon Frey (2) watches during a game against Hall-Dale at The Nest in Jay on Thursday night. (Sun Journal photo by Tony Blasi)
Spruce Mountain senior forward Tate Walton (23) drives to the basket during a game against Hall-Dale at The Nest in Jay on Thursday night. (Sun Journal photo by Tony Blasi)
Hall-Dale Ashtyn Abbott (23) and Spruce Mountain’s Jack Bryant (22) struggle for a rebound during a game against Hall-Dale at The Nest in Jay on Thursday night. (Sun Journal photo by Tony Blasi)
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