KFDM COOP Posted February 20, 2009 Author Report Posted February 20, 2009 I predicted Nederland in this one.
HoopInsider_Cooper Posted February 20, 2009 Report Posted February 20, 2009 Same here....Ned and NF couldn't agree on a location tonight..Hopefully they will tomorrow...lol
KFDM COOP Posted February 21, 2009 Author Report Posted February 21, 2009 Dogs shown up in tiebreaker By Cody Pastorella The Port Arthur News PORT ARTHUR — The Nederland Bulldogs watched one Livingston player hit four 3-pointers in the opening quarter, helping the Lions to 18 points in the first eight minutes. On top of that, the smaller Livingston team controlled the boards for most of the contest and continued to disrupt Nederland's offense, forcing the Dogs into 20 turnovers for the game. Even more troubling, Livingston went to the line 28 times and hit 18 of them. And Nederland's Chris Hammond, one of the Dogs best scorers, was fouled out with more than six minutes still left in the contest. Nederland was as bad as its worst game all season. The Dogs did not look like a team who were playing for the District 20-4A second playoff seed. So how did Nederland only lose 58-50? The Bulldogs either played nervous or without heart at the Carl Parker Multipurpose Center on Friday night. It was almost as if Nederland was scared or if just expected to win, figuring the Lions were just going to hand them the game. However, Nederland head coach Brian English said he thought his team's poor performance was brought on by nerves and inexperience in a playoff atmosphere. Whatever it was, English said his Dogs, "just didn't play well enough to win." Aside from shooting lights out in the first where they built an 18-11 lead, the Lions were rather average for the final three quarters. But Nederland was basically awful until there were around six minutes left in the game. By the point it was far too late. Nederland started a 10-2 run with a Dionte Forney bucket with 5:43 left to play. That 10-2 run trimmed the game from 46-30 to 48-40. The highlight from that stretch came when Francis Torres, who had a team-high 18 points, popped a trey with 3:57 left on the clock. But that was all the Dogs could muster as far as a comeback. From there, Livingston mopped up 10 points from the line in the final three minutes. In that stretch, Livingston made just one field goal but that was all it needed to preserve the win and earn the second-place in league play. The Lions were led by Jerrell Wallace. He had 21 points and was responsible for all the treys in the first frame. Even with 21 points, Dustin Harris' 16 points was the real thorn for the Dogs, as he forced eight Nederland turnovers by himself. Three of his steals turned into coast-to-coast dunks and it was his third flush that really delivered a staggering blow to the Dogs. Before Harris third steal-and-dunk, Nederland had managed to crawl from 13 back to get the game within seven points after a 3-pointer from Jordan Pitts with 2:57 left in the third. Then Nederland forced a turnover, setting the table for a potential five or four-point game. As bad as Nederland had played up to that point, it was in great shape to make Friday's game a contest again. Instead of making it a five point, however, Nederland turned the ball back over and let Livingston go up 39-30. Then Nederland turned the ball over again, this time Harris led the break and threw down the jam to put his team up 41-30 with 1:41 left in the third. Nederland watched Harris add three more points before the end of the period and then Brandon Prescott dropped in a bucket to start to fourth, giving the Lions a 46-30 advantage, their biggest lead of the game. "I think the atmosphere and playoff-type environment was the biggest thing," explained English about the loss. "This was the worst we've played in a long while, but we only lost by eight and shot well from the free-throw line. That was about the only positives we can take away from this one, though. I think we shot 15-for-45 tonight. Very poor." The loss ends a six-game winning streak for Nederland and drops the Dogs into third place in the district seeding. Nederland will have a chance to right the ship against North Forrest in what will be the program's first playoff game since 1993. "We were not very good at much of anything tonight but hopefully this will end up being a good experience for us, you know. Hopefully we can go into this game with North Shore knowing what the atmosphere will be like. Hopefully we got the bad stuff out of our system," said English who added that the first round game with North Forrest should be Tuesday. English said all the details should be finalized Saturday. The Dogs will go into the postseason with a 22-12 overall record. Dionte Forney, who scored six points in the final 5:43, was the only other player to reach double figures for Nederland. The sophomore forward ended the night with 12 points and 13 of Nederland's 21 rebounds. Hammond finished with eight points before he fouled out.
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