The Bulldogs Boys basketball teams season has come to an end after a 55-39 pt loss in the B-7 sub-district tournament in Lexington.
The game started off fast and furious with each team getting open looks that wouldn’t fall. Defense started to pick up in the first quarter as both the Minutemen and Bulldogs looked to take things over early. It was a quarter that featured a lot of fast play but missed shots and would end with Lexington in the lead 12-9.
The second quarter Lexington would come out and start firing on all cylinders. The Minutemen would go on an 8-0 run to start the second putting the Bulldogs back on their heels. All of a sudden it was 20-9 in favor of Lexington. The Bulldogs would get a stop on defense and come out with a 6-0 run of their own on back to back three point shots forcing Lexington to take a time out with 3:56 left in the second. The rest of the quarter teams would trade buckets until the very end. A missed shot by Steven Garcia would give Lexington the ball with 5 seconds left, more than enough to move the ball up court and throw up a three at the buzzer. Lexington would lead at the half 27-20. At that point, no Bulldog had more than 3 points.
The momentum from a buzzer beater would carry in the third quarter for the Minutemen, they would start the quarter on a 7-2 run that would get a time out from the Bulldogs with 5:48 left on the clock. Out of the time out, Lexington would go on another quick 5-0 and with 3:12 left in the quarter they would have the big lead 39-22. North Platte would make a 6-0 run of their own to end the quarter down just 11 points 39-28. You got the feeling after that run that the Bulldogs would not go away quietly.
In the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs would cut the lead to single digits a few times but Lexington would always seem to have an answer. With about 3 minutes left, North Platte would start to foul the Minutemen and make them earn points from the line. The strategy worked as first as the Lexington team would miss two sets of free throws leading to easy buckets for the Bulldogs. North Platte would never get it closer than 9 points before Lexington started making free throws.
The Minutemen would avenge the loss to the Bulldogs from earlier in the season by eliminating them 55-39 ending the North Platte season.