Bulldogs fall to Panthers by 10

Photos by Hunter Brooks

By Wynrick Smothers
UCA Sportswriting

St. Joseph was outmatched Monday in a 51-41 loss to Class 5A Greenbrier at the St. Joseph Family Activity Center.

Greenbrier guard Tyler Simmons started the game by knocking down shots from beyond the arc from both wings, giving him a quick six points. The Bulldogs matched the aggressive play with senior guard Landon Enderlin driving to the basket, getting a layup from one and a couple of free throws from the other. The Bulldogs also got some good big man play from 6-3 senior forward Drake Cooper, whose  big play in the paint resulted in some early free throws that narrowed the difference to 10-8.

As the first quarter came to a conclusion, the Panthers’ guard play stayed on the rise with both Dustin and Justin Tims playing well. Dustin Tims knocked down a jump shot from 15 feet out, and Justin Tims attacked the rim for a layup. Bulldogs senior guard Taylor Schrekenhofer also displayed some attacking ability, resulting in him getting to the foul line, where he made three of four. Greenbrier hit a huge 3 from the baseline to stretch its lead to 15-11 after the first quarter.

St. Joe coach Brent Bruich said he thought the Bulldogs got the shots they were looking for; they just didn’t knock them down with basically all their first-quarter points coming from the free throw line.

“We have to hit those shots,” Bruich said. “We work from the inside out and when Drake is being doubled, we have to be able to knock down some shots, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

The start of the second quarter was better for the Bulldogs. After Dustin Tims came out and knocked down a short jumper, the Bulldogs came alive. They got a couple of layups from Dylan Schrekenhofer and Nash Nichols and a couple of free throws from Taylor Schrekenhofer to tie the game at 17 before the Panthers hit a big 3 from the top of the key. Cooper helped the Bulldogs by working for a couple of big layups to give his team a bit of a boost, which was cut short by Dustin Tims, who scored the final six points of the quarter to give the Panthers a 27-21 lead at the break.

Cooper scored six points in the third quarter, and it was obvious that Bruich wanted to get him the ball. His hard work paid off in spurts but wasn’t quite enough to help his team pull off a victory.

Bruich said he knew his big man was tired, but he had to keep him in the game if he wanted any chance of prevailing.

“He was tired and I knew it,” Bruich said. “I called a timeout just to get him a break. He probably had 20 points and 10 rebounds tonight. He’s a big part of us and so are the rest of the guys.”

Greenbrier's Simmons also had a big third quarter as he brought energy to his team with a couple of assists, a layup, and a big 3-pointer midway through the quarter. The Panthers’ were easily feeding off his play, and he propelled them to a 40-34 advantage after three.

The Bulldogs were back to looking for Cooper in the paint in the fourth quarter. The strategy worked for a couple of minutes with him attacking the rim getting layups. Once again, though, the guard play was too much for the Bulldogs with Tyler Simmons adding to his bucket of points and Dustin Tims using his quickness to attack the basket and get to the free throw line. The Bulldogs started to foul once they realized the game was just about over. Dylan Schrekenhofer knocked down one last jump shot from about 15 feet, but it was too little, too late, and the Bulldogs fell by 10.

Bruich said he was proud of his team and knew the Bulldogs still have some things to work on.

“We talked about some things we have to do that we’re not doing yet," he said. "They hit a lot of 3s and we didn’t hit one tonight, but the main component was that they wore us down.”