Bulldog forward Daxon Toone #21 wins the tip opening tournament play against Kanab High School

The Virgin Valley High School boy basketball team’s losing streak reached 8 games this past weekend as they lost three games in their Bulldog Invitational Tournament (BIT), but all is not lost as the young Bulldogs continue to scrap and show improvement each game.

The Bulldogs opened tournament play Thursday night with a 57-43 loss to the Kanab High School Cowboys. The Bulldogs battled evenly 14-14 after one, fell behind 32-25 at the break and won the third period trailing only 40-37. The Bulldogs had a defensive lapse in the fourth giving up 18 points to lose by 14 points. Eight Bulldogs scored led by Will Barnum’s 11 points.

The Bulldogs faced the Lincoln County Lynx, led by former Dawg coach Sean FitzSimons, in their second game Friday evening. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 10-7 first period advantage and stretched their lead to 28-19 at the break. Pin point three point shooting by Jared Memmott and Daxon Toone kept the Lynx at bay. The second half was another matter as the Lincoln County squad regrouped and forced Bulldog turnovers to cut the Dawgs lead to 37-35 after three periods. The fourth period had numerous lead changes but free throws down the stretch sealed the win for the Lynx. Toone and Memmott led the Dawgs with 11 points each.

The Bulldogs faced Enterprise (Utah) High School in their final tourney game Saturday in the old gym. The Dawgs had their best scoring period of the season racing out to a 25-12 lead after one. The Wolves recovered to cut the Dawgs lead to 32-25 at the break. The Bulldogs upped their lead to 49-40 after three periods but had no answer to the Wolves Ryan Holt who finished the game with 30 points. Holt led the Wolves down the stretch as they shut down the Dawgs to win 54-52. The Wolves hit 20 of 29 attempts from the free throw line during the game to insure the win. Daxon Toone led the Dawgs with 15 points followed by Riley Waite and Will Barnum with 11 points. The Bulldogs end 2018 on Friday Dec. 14 hosting 2-5 TECH at 6:30pm.