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Bulloch blasts Pinewood
010813 BKB BA HOOPS 02
Bulloch Academy's Forrest Spence, left, gets free for a score past Pinewood Christian's Joseph Kennedy during the second quarter on Tuesday.

    There was plenty to be concerned about as Bulloch Academy began its Region 4I-AAA schedule Tuesday night without starters Ross Rainey and Themba Twala, but the Gators came through with flying colors, making short work of Pinewood Christian Academy in a 54-35 victory.
    Rainey is nursing an injury sustained at the Gators’ Christmas tournament in Macon, while Twala — an exchange student from Germany — is out of the country until next week.
    “We had to rely a lot on our young guys tonight,” said BA coach Chandler Dennard. “Out of the five that started, Forrest (Spence) was the only one who wasn’t on the JV team last season.”
    Spence (15 points) and Bill Sheppard (14) picked up the slack as the Gators (8-4, 1-0) took and early lead and never looked back.
    Bailey Smith and Hunter Perry were among the other Gators that turned in solid efforts on the night.
    Pinewood went shot for shot with Bulloch in the opening minutes, but back-to-back buckets from Perry and a 3 from Sheppard helped the Gators open up a 14-6 lead after the first quarter.
    Bulloch’s defense locked down in the second period, keeping the Patriots from scoring until just 1:11 remained in the half. The Gators spent much of the quarter running a methodical half-court set to shave time off of the clock, but were still able to get some good looks and build a 26-10 halftime advantage.
    “It was very important that we got off to a good start,” said Dennard. “With it being a big region game against a rival with some younger guys playing, we really needed that to help us settle in.”
    Chad Cowart (17 points) caught fire for the Patriots in the second half, but none of his teammates followed suit as he accounted for 12 of Pinewood’s 14 points in the third quarter.
    With Bulloch firmly in control, tempers began to boil over as Pinewood was charged with a pair of technical fouls in the third quarter and nearly every dead ball ended with pushing between the players.
    “I think that we kept our cool pretty well,” said Dennard. “The last thing that we wanted to do was get riled up and get out of our game and give Pinewood a chance to get back in it.”
    A pair of steals from Smith and two fastbreak layups from Spence brought the raucous BA student section to its feet and seemed to take the fight out of the Patriots for good.
    Things settled down over the final eight minutes as both teams emptied their benches, winding down the clock for a relatively easy Gator win.

Lady Gators 37, Lady Patriots 36
    Tuesday’s first varsity game between added another thrilling chapter to the rivalry between Bulloch and Pinewood.
    The Lady Gators have recorded plenty of blowout wins so far this season, but found themselves in a big hole early on. Showing their championship pedigree, the Gators rallied hard in the second half, then held off a desperate rally from Pinewood in the final minutes to take a 37-36 win.
    “This was an important one for us to get,” said BA coach Paul Webb. “We played a pretty good team and had a great crowd and atmosphere. It’s even bigger knowing that this was our first region game.”
    The Gators trailed for much of the first two quarters and were behind by a count of 21-18 at halftime, but stifling defense held the Patriots (12-4, 0-1 Region 4I-AAA) scoreless for the entire third quarter as Bulloch powered ahead to take the lead for good.
    Just over two minutes into the third quarter, Anna Newton – who scored all 10 of her points in the second half – drilled a pair of free throws to give the Gators (14-2, 1-0) their first lead since the opening minute.
    Newton continued to work inside as Ashley Burke and Mary Margaret Reeves each hit layups to give Bulloch a 10-0 run throughout the third quarter and a 28-21 lead.
    “We switched up some things on our press,” said Webb. “That allowed us to take away (Pinewood’s) easy shots and kept them running. The shots that they were hitting early on went away as they got a little tired and I think that was a key difference.”
    A free throw by Pat Lomas put the Gators up 35-25 with 5:04 to go, but the Patriots made one last stand.
    Jessie Knauss (13 points) knocked down a short jumper and added a long 3 to begin the Pinewood comeback.
    With Bulloch clinging to a 37-32 lead in the closing seconds, Madison Boatwright connected for Pinewood and Knauss stole the inbounds pass, hitting a layup and calling timeout with 1.4 seconds to play.
    Bulloch was able to run out the clock as Reeves found Burke with an inbound pass and Pinewood was unable to foul before time expired.
    Both Gator squads will be back in action Friday as they travel to Augusta to take on region foe Westminster.

    Mike Anthony may be reached at (912) 489-9404.