The boys varsity basketball team entered Fort Zumwalt South’s sweltering gym on Friday, Feb 11, ready to fight a team that they barely beat earlier this season in a nail-biting game at home. The two student sections were the biggest of the year and the energy in the gym was charged the entire game. From the tip-off, the game was intense and each possession counted. The Bulldogs were behind for the majority of the game, right on the tail of the Eagles, but they pulled in front of the Eagles when the referees started calling foul after foul on the visiting team. 

The final score of the game was 47-35 with the Bulldogs coming out with the victory. South improved its record to 20-2 and the Eagles dropped to 13-6. The only conference loss for the Bulldogs was the last time they played the Eagles and now they returned the favor by defeating them. Although the Bulldogs won the game, the Eagles had more rebounds, better shooting percentages, and better free throw percentages. The only places the Eagles got beat were fouls and steals. The Bulldogs had 15 steals to the Eagles’ five, two of which were senior Jaden Betton, two were senior Adrian Lee, and senior Jordan Smith had one.

Getting into the game, South scored the first bucket to start off their scoring. On the next defensive possession, Betton got his first steal of the game and took the ball down for a fast-break layup that kicked off the Eagles’ scoring. After this exciting start, the rest of the game stayed fast-paced and intense with South getting steal after steal and Liberty getting rebound after rebound.

Betton was the obvious top scorer for the Eagles this game with 19 points, showing off the skills he’s been working on every chance he gets. The next two Liberty offensive possessions consisted of Betton scoring a three and then getting fouled, which he made both free throws easily after being hacked by all five Bulldogs on the court. After these plays by the Eagles, the score showed 7-2 with the Eagles in the lead. 

South answered Liberty’s aggressiveness with a layup to make the score 7-4, but the Eagles put them right back behind when Betton scored his second three of the game, 10-4 Liberty. South scored another bucket after that, attempting to catch up to the Eagles and guard Betton who had all 10 of Liberty’s points.

The Eagles were in bonus with 6:10 left in the first half, which senior David Richard took advantage of after being fouled and made both of his free throws. South’s Blake Struemph then went down with his team and scored his first three of the game. The score read 12-9 with the Eagles holding on to their lead. 

South’s Nick Keene then went to the free throw line and made one out of two shots to bring the Eagles lead down to two. Liberty lost the comfort of their big lead in the first quarter, so they went down the court and, off of a pass from Lee, junior Carter Ashby shot a deep three over South’s defense who came swatting at his shot. The Eagles increased their lead to five over the Bulldogs. 

The good fortune for the rest of the Eagles didn’t prove to be the same for Richard on the next offensive possession as he got called for an offensive foul for dropping his shoulder into a South defender. Senior Alex Fillner then got fouled by Keene, giving him two free shots to add to Liberty’s lead, 17-10. Ironically, Keene got fouled on his next offensive possession and made both of his free throws to return Liberty’s lead to five points instead of seven. 

South’s Jay Higgins won a defensive rebound and took the ball down to court to make a clean pass to Keene over a Liberty defender for an easy bucket to make the score 17-14. Eagle’s next offensive possession led to another steal for the Bulldogs which they capitalized on and South’s Brendan Owens got fouled by sophomore Aiden King from Liberty as his layup went in the bucket. What would have been a two-point play turned into a three-point play for Owens as he sunk his free throw and tied the game with the Eagles for the first time in the competition. 

The Eagles went down on their next offensive possession and Fillner made a pass to Betton in the corner for a three-pointer to put them back up over the Bulldogs. Fillner then got fouled and went to the line for two shots, missing both free throws and the opportunity to further the Eagles’ lead over South. 

Building up momentum towards the end of the half, the Eagles’ senior Kevin Sweet made a pass to Betton in the middle for a wide open shot. Betton misses the shot, but follows it and gets his own rebound for easy second-chance points in the lane. Richard got fouled with 1.7 seconds left in the half and went to the line for two shots, sinking one out of two. Richard’s free throw and Betton’s baskets put the Eagles back on top, winning by four at the half. 

Liberty starts off the third quarter strong by scoring first, putting them up by six at the beginning of the second half. Liberty’s momentum stopped as fast as it started when Richard got his third foul of the game. South used this stop of momentum to build up some of their own, and chopped down some of the Eagles lead, 24-22. 

Fillner nearly turned the ball over on the next offensive possession for the Eagles, but Lee recovered the pass and used it to score an easy layup over the Bulldogs defense. The Bulldogs then went down the floor and scored a three-pointer over Liberty to put them down by two. Junior Nathan Bobikiewicz then fouled Peyton Blair on a shot to give him a basket and a free throw. Blair sank the free throw to bring the Bulldogs over the Eagles by one point, 27-26. Fillner and Richard were both called on fouls before the next score, Fillner with three fouls and Richard with four. 

Struemph then went down the court and scored his second, and final, three of the night for South. In the last Bulldog-Eagle matchup, Struemph scored six out of 11 threes. 

Senior Jordan Smith then got a steal where he out hustled the Bulldogs to the ball, made a pass off the floor to Betton, who then made a long pass down the court to Bobikiewicz who scored an easy bucket and got fouled. He missed the free throw, but the rebound went to King. King didn’t have time to put the ball up before Struemph jumped on the ball and the refs called a jump ball for the Bulldogs. 

South then increased their lead over the Eagles by scoring a bucket and a three, making the score 35-28. At the end of the quarter, the Eagles were down by nine. 

The first few calls of the last quarter caused Richard to foul out and South to gain momentum with the refs calling it their way. A nice jumper by Smith was the first score for the Eagles in the last quarter. After this play, South seemed to take off on play after play of scoring and steals, causing them to finish the game 12 points up over the Eagles.