to make it to the Area finals

By RICKY COUCH

Sports Writer

The Pike County High School varsity men have lived to fight another day.

Despite a weak first period the Bulldogs were able to take a 55-40 victory over the Dale County Warriors in the Area Tournament Saturday.

The Bulldogs came out slow allowing the Warriors to jump to a 16-8 lead at the end of the first. but the Bulldogs gathered their pride and used a 14-point run to fly past the Warriors to a 27-24 halftime lead.

The Bulldogs big second period was fueled by three-point shooting. The Bulldogs were able to connect on four three-pointers in the second period alone.

The Pike County boys didn’t let up in the second either. The Bulldogs came out ready and began to dominate at both ends of the court stepping it up on defense while maintaining their offensive output.

PCHS could only extend it’s three-point halftime lead to five in the third, but began to pound the Warriors in the fourth. They went on a 10-2 run to start the final period and with 2:12 left in the game the Bulldogs had rocketed to a comfortable 13-point lead.

The Bulldogs needed only five more points to put away the discouraged Dale County team and claim the tournament win.

Although the Bulldogs looked good in the second half Pike County head coach David Buehler would like to see his team start stronger.

"We really didn’t play well in the first half," said Buehler. "I really think we could have played better. We played well enough to win and that’s really all that matters."

The Bulldogs were impressive on offense with four players scoring over or near ten points in the game. Tobias Johnson led the way for the Bulldogs with 18 points followed by Michael Walker with 10.

The Bulldogs are now 9-16 and will face the winner of the Daleville-Geneva game Tuesday in the Area Championship game. The winner will then host the first round of the Sub-Regionals while the loser will take to the road.