Bulldogs press throttles West

Tue. February 14, 2012 at 10:24 p.m. | By Jason Queen

West Davidson's David Monk takes a one-handed shot over Thomasville's Quanny Johnson during their game Tuesday night. (Photo by Donnie Roberts/The Dispatch)

THOMASVILLE | There just weren’t enough good times to outweigh the bad for West Davidson’s boys Tuesday night.

The Dragons held steady against Thomasville’s frenetic pressing defense in stretches, but the Bulldogs reeled off a 16-0 run early in the fourth quarter to rally for a 66-57 victory in the first round of the Central Carolina Conference at Brown-Finch Gymnasium. The Bulldogs, the No. 5 seed, will face top seed Lexington at West Davidson in the tournament semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Against West, which had swept the Bulldogs in the regular season, the game plan was to create easy baskets off turnovers, and it worked to perfection. “Our pressure was good,” Thomasville coach Tony Clark said. “We know, when it comes to our style of play, we’ve got to give energy.

“And once we give energy we feel like we can play with anybody.”

After beating Thomasville twice earlier, West had to feel like it could play with the Bulldogs on Tuesday. And after David Monk cut backdoor for a layup and Andrew Kahn hit his fifth 3-pointer of the night, the Dragons led 44-38 less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

Then the wheels fell off for West. Quanny Johnson sank two free throws and the Bulldogs picked up the pressure. Breyon Watkins and Latrele Skeen hit consecutive putbacks, then Skeen and Johnson followed Watkins’ free throws with two more buckets off offensive rebounds. Demoris Payne drove to the hole, then Ike Marsh converted a steal into a layup. In the wild three-minute burst, in which Thomasville created several opportunities with steals in the backcourt, the Bulldogs turned a 44-38 deficit into a 54-44 lead.

There was nothing West coach Russ Snyder could do to slow down the bleeding. “We didn’t get off to a great start against the press, we had a few careless turnovers,” Snyder said. “But, we got better in the second and into the third (quarters).
“Then we fell apart again.”

West slowly crept back in it, with Zach Queen burying a 3-pointer in between two buckets in the post from Nolan Benson. Benson’s second score in the spurt, off a nice feed from Tyler Grooms, got West within 55-51 with two minutes left.

But the Bulldogs iced it down the stretch from the free throw line, connecting on 10-of-16 from the stripe. That was a reason to smile for Clark. “I think the difference was the free-throw shooting,” Clark said. “We made a little bit more, and the guys stayed a little bit more calmer.”

Johnson led the way for the Bulldogs with 20 points, and Payne added 11. Kahn and Benson poured in 20 apiece for the Dragons, who finished their season at 5-16.

Thomasville, now 5-15, gets a shot at redemption after last week’s blowout loss to the Yellow Jackets. “After getting murdered over there the other night, I don’t know if it’s calmer, I don’t know what you call it,” Clark said. “But we’re excited.
“We know that we can make a run, and we know that we can win it. It’s just about putting it together.”

Jason Queen can be reached at 249-3981, ext. 220 or jason.queen@the-dispatch.com.