After Three Wins, Bulldogs Lose Two in a Row

Bulldog getting ready to “block-a-shot” at the St Thomas VS South Broward Basketball game on January 24th, 2020.

Bianca McDowell, Contributor

SBHS Boys Basketball took two hard fought losses two weeks ago when they played back-to-back games, one against rival Western High School, the other in an exhibition game against St. Thomas Aquinas. 

The first was a home game on January 13 against Saint Thomas Aquinas High School.

SBHS senior and shooting guard, Bobby McLogan was optimistic before the game.

“I feel like we have been working hard lately, getting better as a team and all so our performance should be great,” said McLogan.

But the optimism wasn’t enough. The Bulldogs gave it their best shot, but lost handily 46-38. 

The next night the Bulldogs were narrowly defeated 32-35 against rival Western Wildcats on their turf. Before the Western game, Coach Barta had been hopeful for a comeback from their stinging loss the day before.

“This is going to be a better game,” said coach Barta. “The team is more focused and determined to go home with a win. As long as they play their game and come together as a team they will be fine.” 

But it was not to be.

The Bulldogs started off a great game against the Wildcats, with an eight-point lead the whole first quarter. 6’7 James Prudhomme blocked many of their scores, and hit the glass board .With a tie score in the third quarter, however, Prudhomme got injured and had to stay out the rest of the game. With the loss of the giant post player, Western had the upper hand in driving inside the paint for easy baskets. And that’s exactly what the Wildcats did.

“The team gave up. They let the score get to their head. They weren’t playing their basketball game they were messing themselves up,” said coach Barta.

Barta isn’t sweating the losses.

“My boys had a good defensive game today, but just weren’t producing as much on offense as they usually do that’s why we lost. We definitely got the next game and are still preparing for districts,” said coach Barta.

The day before, the Bulldogs took on Saint Thomas Aquinas at their home court.

Throughout the game the team was really giving it their all. Charles Smith and Wade Anderson were knocking down all their jump shots keeping the Bulldogs head to head with Saint Thomas.  

Number 5 on the Saint Thomas team was unstoppable, shooting 3s anywhere he was on the court. Luckily Trenton Booker played some lock-down defense and number 5 struggled to score. staying head to head with Saint Thomas, the Bulldogs score was 32-35, we were down by 3. 

Unfortunately, Booker fouled out the 3rd quarter which allowed 5 to start running up points again. Sadly, the bulldogs couldn’t pull through and lost to Saint Thomas with a ending score of 38-46, an 8 point loss.

After taking these two losses however, the Bulldogs got back on their winning streak taking a big win at Coconut Creek High School.

SBHS junior point-guard Charles Smith isn’t phased by the two defeats

“These two past Ls we took isn’t going to stop us from going to district. We are a strong well developed team that’s determined to make it to the district playoffs,” said Charles Smith

After taking these two losses however, the Bulldogs got back on their winning streak taking a big win at Coconut Creek High School.

The Bulldogs current record is 6-12 which is fairly better than their record last year which was 5-14

Their next game is on Tuesday February 10,2020. They will be competing against Goleman Higolil.h school for the first round of the district playoffs. If they secure the win, they will be competing against McArthur Highschool, a rivalry team, in the semi-finals.

“I’m not worried about Goleman, it’s the McArthur that we have to come back from after losing. Coach is showing us the film, teaching us how to beat their plays so honestly I think we got this.” said McLogan.