bulldog81 Posted January 7, 2007 Report Posted January 7, 2007 Bears grind past Dogs, 59-51Van WadeThe Orange LeaderLITTLE CYPRESS— You can tell that the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears are growing as a team while the Nederland Bulldogs are still in the maturing process as the two teams battled it out at The Bear Cave Friday night.The Bears got off to a huge start only to see the Bulldogs, who start four sophomores, tie it up at the half.LC-M, however, turned things up on the defensive end in the third quarter and went on a 14-1 and then held off a late Bulldog rally as the Bears claimed a 59-51 District 22-4A victory.“Our defense was shaky in the second quarter so I challenged the kids at the half and they responded,†said Bear coach Darin Harley. “We really locked them (Nederland) down in the third quarter. The kids are showing more and more signs of maturity. In the past, we’ve blown some pretty big leads but lately we’ve been playing pretty darn good. The Barbers Hill Tournament (where the Bears placed third) really gave the kids a boost of confidence, I think.â€Forward C.J. Champine powered the Bears (11-10, 1-2), popping in a game-high 23 points, burying five three-pointers in the process. Post Kevin Cooper had a strong outing off the bench, tallying 10 points and snagging seven rebounds and scored seven critical points in the fourth period. Forward Dallas Bean contributed eight points and seven rebounds to aid the Bears while point guard Matt Mott, subbing for injured point guard Kamron Vaughn, had six points and pulled down five rebounds.“C.J. can score in spurts and it really got us going early on,†said Harley. “Kamron (Vaughn) is really good energy guy for us with his defense and we missed him but I thought Kevin (Cooper) really came in and got things done for us at both ends. He got a lot of rebounds and it seem like he was running down every loose ball.â€Jacob VanSchoubrek had a big double-double for the Bulldogs, tallying 19 points while yanking down a game-high 12 rebounds. Forward Jordan Pitts had 10 points while forward Chris Hammond had six points and nine boards.With the game tied at 30-30 at intermission, the Bears clamped down on the Bulldogs in the third period, holding Nederland without a field goal. The Bear defense forced the Bulldogs into 23 turnovers for the night, including eight in the third period.Bean worked is way inside for six third-quarter points while Champine had five and Andrew Cooper buried a long-range trey to give the Bears a comfortable 44-31 lead heading into the fourth period.Free-throw shooting almost came back to haunt the Bears as they finished the game by shooting 33 percent (7-of-21).The Bulldogs rallied back to cut the LC-M lead to 56-51 with 1:41 remaining but LC-M forward Justin Kinsley made 3-of-4 charity shots in the waning seconds to help the Bears maintain their cushion.“Usually we’re a pretty good free-throw shooting team,†Harley said. “Tonight was rough from the line and we’ve got to bounce back from that. The Nederland kids played hard and Coach (Brian) English will continue to get that program going. This was a big step for us tonight and we’ve got to keep it going.â€LC-M jumped out to a 16-4 lead early in the first period and led 20-8 at the end of the quarter with Champine firing away for nine points in the period. The Bear defense also made the Bulldogs cough the ball up nine times.It was a different story in the second period as Nederland, led by Van Schoubrek’s 10 points in the quarter, went on a 22-10 run to tie things up at the half. The Bears didn’t hit a field goal until the 3:07 mark with a Champine three-pointer, which ended a 9-0 Bulldog spurt.The Bulldogs outrebounded the Bears 37-30. LC-M committed 18 turnovers while Nederland finished 13-of-20 from the foul line.The Bears look to continue their winning ways Tuesday when they visit Lumberton. Copyright © 1999-2006 cnhi, inc.
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