Sports Editor

CLAYTON – Pike County guard Reggie Griffin sat on the bench following Wednesday’s Barbour County High School tournament championship game against rival Charles Henderson.

As soon as the final seconds had ticked off the clock, giving the tenth-ranked Trojans a 38-35 win over Pike County, Griffin did not even stick around for the postgame awards ceremony, choosing instead to rush to the locker room and change out of uniform.

Griffin’s teammates had to retrieve him from inside to receive his All-Tournament trophy.

He waited outside the locker room, head bowed, for the rest of the team to get dressed.

Griffin was just one of 11 Bulldogs who took the loss to CHHS especially hard.

12, counting head basketball coach Danny Suber.

"I want them to take it hard. It bothers me and it should bother them to," said Suber after the game. "They’re real down right now because that’s Troy. That’s what this rivalry is all about. It’s about watching two teams get out and play to the best of their ability."

One night after bringing Class 2A No. 1 Barbour County’s 17-game win streak to a screeching halt, 72-69, the Bulldogs almost pulled off a second straight upset over the Trojans.

"I felt like we should have won the ball game," said Suber. "We turned the ball over too much, but that’s consistent with this still being early in the year."

And for the Bulldogs it’s especially early in the season.

Barbour County had nine games on Pike County, while Charles Henderson had eight.

Beating the state’s top-ranked team and then playing a No. 10 5A program off its heels, Suber admits, can do amazing things to a team’s mentality.

"It’s given them a lot of confidence," he said about the win over Barbour County. "We beat a great team last night. They’re a great team and we’re going to have to play them a couple of more times this year and it’s going to be tough every time. We’ve definitely got to get better, but as far as where we are right now, I couldn’t be more proud of them."

Although the basketball team got started late due to the football program’s run in the state playoffs, Suber feels that wasn’t a problem. He said, for any Bulldogs’ team, it’s all about having pride in Pike County High School.

"The whole time I’m sitting there, I know we’re behind because of football, but I really wasn’t worried about that," said Suber. "The kids, all they’re doing is changing a ball. It’s the same to them. They know they’re going to have to work hard in everything they do."