Late Flurry Propels Bulldogs To Win

Things were nip and tuck for the better part of three quarters in Tuesday night’s Grand River Conference match-up between the Trenton and Gallatin Bulldogs.
Late in the third quarter, though, Trenton surged ahead behind an 8-0 run that broke a 22-22 tie and turned out to be the decisive blow in a hotly contested conference contest. Trenton would answer all of Gallatin’s challenges in the final frame, picking up a 46-36 victory.
“Tempo was the main adjustment that we made,” Trenton Head Coach Jeremy Austin said of the Bulldogs’ third-quarter march. “That was something we had talked about the whole game – we have to go faster. In the absence of an effective offense, we have to speed things up.”
Offense was definitely missing in this game for both teams. Gallatin led just 7-6 after a quarter of play and the two squads were deadlocked at 17-17 at halftime. Trenton however, was able to up its scoring output in each frame, building to a 16-point effort in the final eight minutes of the contest. That continuous increase in points coincided with a continuous increase in the pace of the game.
“If we’re not scoring, we need to be back on defense so we can push transition and move up and down the court that way,” Austin said. “I thought we did a good job overall in the basketball game, we just didn’t execute our tempo early on. There seems to be too much hesitation right now on the offensive end. Defensively, though, you couldn’t have asked for more from the kids. They worked their tails off.”
Trenton was led by Spencer Harris. The returning all-district performer scored 18 points while pulling down nine rebounds and swiping four steals. Connor Cotton followed with a double-double, netting 12 points, 10 rebounds and three steals. Corbyn Guile, who fouled out with just under two minutes left in the game, had 10 points and four assists. He had one steal, a big one that led to a lay-up with Trenton trying to protect a single-digit lead down the stretch.
Behind the big three, Trenton got three points from Hunter Dugan, two points and two assists from Dylan Harris and one point and five rebounds from Lathan Croy.
The win vaulted Trenton to 6-3 overall on the season and pushed the Bulldogs to 2-0 within the conference, joining Milan and Putnam County – both also undefeated within the league at 2-0 – atop the league standings.
The Bulldogs will now break from conference play, heading to North Central Missouri College’s High School Holiday Hoops, where they will face Maryville on Friday. The Bulldogs and Spoofhounds will tip off from the Ketcham Community Center at 1:30 p.m. that day.