The Virgin Valley High School Bulldogs are facing crunch time as all games remaining are league games. The Bulldogs went into tonight’s game against the Sunrise Mountain High School Miners needing a win to stay in second place in the 1A Sunset Division. It was not to be as the Bulldogs squandered a lead to lose 47-44 to the Miners whom they beat earlier in the month.
The Bulldogs Tyson Teerlink won the jump and the Bulldogs went on the offensive. They missed their first four shots before a double pass from Dee Bowler to Garrett Leavitt to Dillon Graves gave the Dawgs the first points of the game. Teerlink then hit two long threes to keep the Dawgs in front 8-6. Leavitt hit a three before the period ended to give the Dawgs an 11-10 lead after one.
Graves hit Leavitt on a sweet pass to begin the second period upping the lead to 13-10. Levonte Milligan pulled down a rebound and hit Teerlink on an assist and Teerlink finished the play with a three giving the Dawgs the biggest lead they would have all night at 16-11. The miners closed the gap with a three of their own. Leavitt added a layup to keep the Dawgs in front 18-14. The Miners added another three to take the lead 20-18. Tanner Kilmer hit a short jumper for the Dawgs and Bowler followed with three of four from the line. Bowler added another jumper giving the Dawgs a 25-20 lead. The Miners again closed the gap with two points as the buzzer sounded.
The Miners began the second half with a layup as both teams battled for the next three minutes with neither team with an advantage as the score was tied at 32 points apiece. Teerlink had five of the Dawgs 7 points. Leavitt hit another drive as the third period ended with the game knotted at 34-34.
The Bulldogs could only manage 12 points in the critical final period as turn overs cost them dearly. Teerlink hit for 6 of the Dawgs 12 points. The Bulldogs called time out with 14 seconds remaining in the game and the score 47-44 in favor of the Miners. Coach Sean FitzSimons worked out a play for a game tying shot by Garrett Leavitt but the shot went wide as the Miners got the rebound to close out the Dawgs. Teerlink led all scorers with 20 points followed by Leavitt with 11 points. They were the only Dawgs in double figures. The Bulldogs only managed 5 for 25 shots from the three point line. The Bulldogs only managed 5 for 23 shots from the three point line in a loss to Chaparral Friday night. The Bulldogs also committed 15 turn overs in the game. “We were not willing to attack and finish our shots. We gave away to many points in the paint with offensive rebounds. Were just taking to many three point shots instead of working the ball,” said Coach FitzSimons. “We could not go into a man defense as they were much too quick for us to defend. This was a critical loss for as the tie breaker is now in their favor. I told the boys were in a five game season now and need to have a complete game to compete.” The Bulldogs face Vo-Tech. in Las Vegas Thursday before hosting Moapa Valley in a big game Saturday night in the Dawg House.