Jonas Emilsson
www.KramMag.com

The Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs survived a sloppy three quarters of basketball to defeat the Bishop McNally Timberwolves 82-63 in the opening night of the senior boys’ basketball season.

Luckily for the Bulldogs, they put together a stellar fourth quarter to survive a pesky Timberwolves squad that many consider a team that will be challenging for top spot this season.

Brett Toner lead the Bulldogs with 21 points, Mitch Jacobsen chipped in with 19 points, and Stephen Booth scored 16 points.

Abraha Awet led the Timberwolves with 18 points and the Joaquin Jeff added 13 points.

Action photos from this game will soon be available HERE.

Turnovers haunted both teams, especially in the first half of play.

The Bulldogs had serious difficulties dealing with the relentless pressure of the Timberwolves’ frontcourt, and the Timberwolves turned the ball over mostly due to the speed they were trying to move the ball at.

According to Timberwolves’ head coach Dave Finn, the difference in the game came in the fourth quarter when the his team’s offense ran dry, which meant that the turnovers became that much more glaring.

“We had 17 turnovers in the first half and we probably had equally as many in the second half, but the difference is when you’re not scoring you can’t afford to turn the ball over,” he said.

“If you’re scoring you can live with the turnovers,” continued Finn. But if you’re turning the ball over and not scoring offensively you’re always going to come out on the short end of the score. Always.”

The Timberwolves can take some satisfaction in that they kept pace with the Bulldogs more than three quarters, and if it wasn’t for their offense going stone cold down the stretch, the game could have been turned out a lot differently.

“I thought the game was closer that what the score indicated,” said Finn. “We had a four-point game going into the second half, and in the last quarter we had a four-point game again and all of the sudden we get some turnovers and the boys kind of fell asleep.”

“Give credit to Churchill, they have a big inside game and a big inside presence.”

The Bulldogs spent the majority of the first half fending off the pressure thrown at them by the Timberwolves speedy full-court press, which resulted in the Bulldogs being unable to set up their half-court game to take advantage of their size advantage down low.

Despite their difficulties, the Bulldogs were still able to put up enough points to take a slim 38-33 lead into the locker room at half time.

“Their pressure hurt us a little bit in the first half, no doubt about it,” acknowledged Bulldogs’ coach Morgan Tudor. “That gets you pushing the ball a little quicker than what you would like to but we asked the boys to calm down, work the ball around and in the fourth quarter we had very good ball movement and we were very patient.”

Booth, a grade-12 player was key in helping the Bulldogs pull away in the end.

With five minutes to play, the speed guard’s aggressive drive to the basket resulted in his second three=point play of the quarter to give the Bulldogs a commanding 72-61 lead.

Booth’s aggressive play opened up the Bulldogs’ inside game for Toner and Jacobsen, who finally seemed to find some breathing space in the paint.

“The guys did what they had to in a game where we didn’t play that well offensively,” said Tudor. “It was sloppy, no doubt about it. We told out guys at halftime that it was gut-check time. “

With the Timberwolves offense suddenly cold, the 11-point deficit proved too much to overcome.

“Sometimes there’s just a piece of saran wrap over the rim,” said Finn.

Key Moments of the Game: As already mentioned, midway through the fourth quarter Booth aggressively drove to the basket and converted two tough three-point plays to give the Bulldogs a comfortable lead. The plays seemed to invigorate the Bulldogs’ offense, giving them the confidence to effectively use their half-court game.