A share of the Tri-Valley League East Crown, a #3 seed, eight wins in their last nine games and a big home crowd did not add up to a receipt for success for the Whitesboro Warriors in a Class A Quarterfinal tonight in Whitesboro.
Two straight wins for the visiting and still competing Nottingham Bulldogs did ad up to the right numbers for the Bulldogs who muscled their way past Whitesboro (13-6) to hold on for a 50-42 win as the #6 seed survives and advances.
Visit Perfect Game Imaging for a photo album
It was a fun filled trip back to the Mohawk Valley for former RFA Black Knight and now Nottingham head coach Robert Dixon, who saw his troops dominate inside and build up a second half double digit lead and then hold off a hard charging bunch of Whitesboro Warriors who cut the lead to one, 37-36, with five minutes to go in the game.
This matchup came about after Nottingham won an overtime thriller over Indian River in the tourney's opening round, 56-54. Robert Bullock hit a jump shot to seal the deal and punch the Dogs ticket to round two and Friday's matchup with the Warriors at the jammed packed Warrior Dome.
DIDN'T MAKE IT TO THE GAME? OR LISTEN LIVE ON WIBX?-LISTEN TO THE GAME AT YOUR CONVENIENCE!
****** TO LISTEN TO TONIGHT'S BOYS GAME PLEASE FORWARD YOUR AUDIO PLAYER PAST THE GIRL'S DOUBLEHEADER OPENER. BOTH GAMES ARE ON THE SAME FILE. THANKS.*****
All webcasts are ready for replay as soon as the game ends.
(Whitesboro's Ryan Watson (44) and Nottingham's Mabior Mayhen (23) leap high for the opening tip.)
How would Whitesboro react to a long layoff? That was one of the questions we bantered back and forth on our broadcast pre-game show on WIBX. Is it better to have played or is it better to have rested? Whitesboro last did battle on February 5th as they closed out the regular season with a 64-60 win over New Hartford.
Whitesboro's offense is all about balance, as the wealth is evenly spread from top to bottom, with the starting five. Mike Ryan entered action averaging just about 12 ppg and Ryan Watson almost 10ppg, while Mike Sullivan chipped in just under 10 ppg himself.
When the score ledger is balanced, Whitesboro usually wins. On this night, the balance was upset because of a dogged defense played by Nottingham's Bulldogs. A defense anchored by 6'7” Mabior Mayhen, who changed the course of shot after shot put up by the hard driving Warriors.
(Warriors guard Mike Sullivan (25) shows perfect form from long range early in the ball game.)
Shots that looked like they would be uncontested ones, suddenly were, when Mayhen swooped across the lane to block shots or alter them to disrupt the Whitesboro offensive flow. A flow that didn't start to come until Mike Ryan did his best microwave imitation as he heated up scoring 9 quick points in the third, to help his team make it a game.
Ryan decided it was better to shoot from the parking lot then battle Mayhen and company in the paint. Ryan's strategy paid off for a while.
Chris Gibbs showed no fear driving straight at Mayhem, I mean, Mayhen, to give the home team hope and a 6-2 lead with 5:50 left in the first. James Brown hit his only bucket of the night to tie it up at 6-6 just a few seconds later.
Whitesboro took its last lead of the night at 7-6 when Chris Gibbs hit one of two from the charity stripe. Jawan Simmons, the smoothest looking shooter on the court, pumped in five quick points, a long three and a put back two, to build the Nottingham lead to 11-7 with one quarter in the books. Simmons led all scorers hitting for 16 points.
(Nottingham's Jalen Snow (24) has other plans for Whitesboro's Chris Gibbs' (12) layup try late in the first half.)
Simmons had help outside as Cameron Issac scored a quite 14 points to help the Bulldogs cause.
The lead opened up to 7 as Issac stopped and popped from 12 feet out to make it 16-9. Coach Dixon's Dogs suddenly led by double-digits when Jalen Snow hit to make it 21-11, as the Warriors could not buy one, scoring just five points over an eight minute span at the end of the first quarter and into the second.
All Whitesboro could muster up in the second was 9 points and that followed up a low scoring first with just 7 points going up on the board. Brendan Heitz, Dan Upson and Mike Sullivan helped keep the lead manageable at 26-16 at the half.
The Warriors continued to struggle and stumble but never completely fell down as they battled and battled their way back in the third quarter. The biggest lead of the night for Nottingham was 13, at 36-23, when Roosevelt Bullock canned one from the key with 4:17 left in the third.
This is when, heart overcame head, and Whitesboro went down swinging. The Warriors turned up the heat on defense and a full-court press saw them start a 12-0 run that got them right back in it trailing by just one 37-36 with 7:00 minutes left in the game.
Mike Ryan did his best Larry Bird imitation scoring 14 points in the second half including two long range 3's.
(Whitesboro's Brendan Heitz (4) heads into the paint with Nottingham's Delquan Holmes (3) ready to defend.)
Despite all the hard work and great rally, Whitesboro could not climb the hill. After the lead was cut to one following Ryan's last three, the Dogs dug deep and pulled away for good.
Following a Nottingham timeout Jawan Simmons scored five straight points for the second time in the game to open the lead back up to 6, 42-36, with just under 3 minutes to go. Whitesboro's 12-0 run had been answered by a Nottingham 7-0 run and that was that.
The Warriors got no closer than six the rest of the way out and when the horn sounded the season had come to an all too sudden end as the home team was on the short end of the 50-42 score.
Nottingham now (13-7) moves on, as a very tough #6 seed, while Whitesboro's season closes out with the hard fought loss.
(Nottingham center Maibor Mayhen(23) makes it look easy with a nasty slam late in the game.)
Nottingham 50 Whitesboro 42
1 2 3 4 Total
Nottingham 11 15 11 13 50
Whitesboro 7 9 17 9 42
Leading Scorers:
Nottingham:
Jawan Simmons 16
Cameron Issac 14
Mabior Mayhen 9
James Brown 6
Whitesboro
Mike Ryan 14
Chris Gibbs 8
Brendan Heitz 6
Mike Sullivan 5
