The disappointment could be seen in Doug Holland’s face as he exited the locker room Thursday night in Goshen. Pike County dug itself out of a fourth-quarter hole to tie the game up with 2.7 seconds to go, but saw Samson pull away in overtime en route to a 65-55 win in the first round of the Goshen Holiday Tournament.

Jerrell Lawson tipped a layup with less than five seconds to play after several Bulldog attempts fell no good. The tip in by Lawson closed a 6-2 Bulldog run over the final one-minute-and-ten-seconds of regulation.

However, Samson struck first in the overtime stanza and never looked back on the way to the first-round upset.

“We just ran out of gas late,” Holland said. “We got some cheap fouls early on and got some of our guys in foul trouble. We made a good run at the end, but just couldn’t get the ball in the bucket in overtime.”

Samson’s Jordan Holley set the net on fire by hitting seven of eight three-point attempts. Holley finished the night with 33 of the Tigers’ 65 points, including 12 in the overtime period.

Holland had to tip his hat to the play of Holley and Samson as a whole.

“We knew he was one of their better shooters, because he came alive at the end of our first game,” Holland said. “I haven’t seen too many kids get hot like that, especially from deep. Samson had a game plan and stuck to it, and made big shots when they needed too.”

The Bulldogs will meet New Brockton Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the old gym at Goshen High School.