Saturday, May 18, 2013
By Gary Hawkins ghawkins@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer
FARMINGDALE -- The outcome looked bleak for the Hall-Dale boys basketball team after 6-foot-6 center Sam Shepherd went down with a sprained ankle in the first quarter and didn't return.
SUPPORT: Hall-Dale High School basketball players approach their former coach, Jim Patrick, as he hugs his wife, Cheryl, before a game Thursday in Farmingdale. The school held a fundraiser for cancer research. Cheryl Patrick is fighting cancer.
Staff photo by Andy Molloy
But the Bulldogs battled back from a halftime deficit to catch visiting St. Dominic in the fourth quarter en route to a 51-50 Mountain Valley Conference win.
Shepherd sprained his ankle going in for a layup with 1 minute, 50 seconds left in the first quarter. He returned to the bench in the second half on a pair of crutches.
"It changes what we can do defensively," Hall-Dale coach Chris Ranslow said. "We like to get up and overplay a little bit when he's back there. When he went out, we had to go more traditional."
The Bulldogs led 15-10 when Shepherd left but the Saints exploited his absence getting key hoops from Eric Ulin and Zak Johnson to take a 28-22 lead at the half. Hall-Dale went to its senior veterans in the second half, beginning with Zac Plummer, who scored nine of his 13 points in the third quarter which ended tied at 39.
"We needed the ball to go through Plummer and (Mike) Woods," Ranslow said.
Hall-Dale sophomore Brian Allen (15 points) opened the fourth period with two layups and a putback to give the Bulldogs a 45-41 lead they never relinquished. The Saints went to an effective full-court zone press that caused several Hall-Dale turnovers and they were able to draw to within one, 47-46, when Michael Bryant canned a 3 from the left corner with 1:19 left.
Woods responded with a driving bank shot then hit two free throws with five seconds to play before Novak Liu hit a 3 at the buzzer. Ulin led St. Dom's (3-5) with 13 points while Johnson added 11. Hall-Dale (6-3) got good minutes from sophomores Nat Crocker, Bryson Camp and Wesley Lapointe and junior Taylor Lockhart.
Gary Hawkins -- 621-5638
ghawkins@centralmaine.com
Tweet
Copyright ©2013 MaineToday Media, Inc.
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Maine Yellow Pages
Facebook
Twitter
Further Discussion
Here at KJonline.com we value our readers and are committed to growing our community by encouraging you to add to the discussion. To ensure conscientious dialogue we have implemented a strict no-bullying policy. To participate, you must follow our Terms of Use.Questions about the article? Add them below and we’ll try to answer them or do a follow-up post as soon as we can. Technical problems? Email them to us with an exact description of the problem. Make sure to include: