Trelas Heatly (21) pulls down the rebound for Blythewood. (Photo/Sam Strait/GoFlashWin)
LEXINGTON (Jan. 25, 2017) – Blythewood’s boys’ basketball squad (14-5, 6-2) used their elite guard play and shooting touch to ease by the River Bluff Gators (7-11, 1-7), 62-52 Tuesday night, as the Gators’ late push to upset the Bengals came up short.
“Those guys at River Bluff are one tough team to go against,” Blythewood head coach Ezekiel Washington said. “Those guys will not stop, and despite our foul trouble tonight we continued to play our game.”
Blythewood took a 10-point lead in the opening quarter, connecting on big 3-pointers to go up 20-10. River Bluff opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run, cutting the Bengals’ lead to 20-17. Blythewood countered the Gators’ run with a 9-0 streak to stretch their lead to 29-17. River Bluff ended the second period outscoring the Bengals 8-4, going into the half down 33-28.
“I thought the second-quarter runs and third-quarter runs we had kind of kept us ahead despite those guys’ energy to continue cutting into our lead,” Washington said. “I am just happy we can adapt to other teams’ energy and our coaches and myself continue to help our guys adapt to the flow of the game.”
Although at times it felt as if the Bengals were playing down to River Bluff, they used a 7-2 run to take a 40-30 lead in the early part of the third quarter. River Bluff again used another late quarter run to score 9 straight, but the Bengals countered once more with a 7-0 run to go into the final frame up 47-39.
“That late run by River Bluff in the fourth almost came back to bite us in the end, but again our effort by our guards helped us leave here tonight with a victory,” Washington said.
The Gators managed to whittle down Blythewood’s lead late in the game, getting within 2 points, but the Bengals rattled off the last 8 points of the contest to seal the win.
The Bengals host Dutch Fork Friday night.
BHS: 20-13-14-15 – 62
RB: 10-18-11-13 – 52
