The Virgin Valley High School Bulldogs woes continued Friday night in the Dawg House as they were nipped 58-56 by the SECTA (TECH) Roadrunners for their ninth consecutive loss. The Roadrunners came out firing hitting four long balls in a row to take a 12-4 early lead. The Bulldogs battled back led by guard Will Barnum to cut the TECH lead to 15-14 after one period of play. The second period belonged to the Dawgs as they outscored the Roadrunners 17-7 to take a 31-22 lead into the break. Barnum had 9 points to lead the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs upped their lead to 39-24 on three balls from Barnum and Daxon Toone before big Luis Avila found the mark for the Roadrunners leading them back to a 39-39 tie late in the third period. Toone’s three ball gave the Dawgs a 42-41 lead after three periods. The Dawgs and TECH battled evenly throughout the fourth period. Bulldog point guard Koden Tietjen hit two big free throws to tie the game 56-56 with 54:09 seconds left on the clock. Avila hit the game winner with 22 seconds remaining giving TECH a 58-56 lead. Bulldog coach Mark Barnum called an immediate timeout to set a play. Two long balls missed the mark forcing another timeout with 1.1 second left in the game. The Bulldogs last shot fell short giving the win to the Roadrunners. Avila led all scorers with 30 points. Toone led the Dawgs with 18 points followed by Barnum with 14 points and Tietjen with 9 points. The Bulldogs take an almost month break before opening 3A Sunrise League against Moapa Valley on January 11.
