The Pike County Bulldogs did not let a bad first quarter ruin a chance at an area victory Tuesday night at home.

Pike County’s basketball Bulldogs overcame a 19-10 deficit in the first quarter to edge the No. 8 Dale County Warriors 46-42 in Brundidge.

“It was an ugly win, but we did get an area win to improve our record,” PCHS head coach Doug Holland said. “But I was real disappointed with how we played tonight compared with how we played against Headland (Monday night).”

The Bulldogs (12-5, 2-1 AHSAA Class 3A, Area 4) outscored Dale County 14-2 in the second quarter by pressuring the Warriors to turn the ball over. They may not have played well all game, but Holland said the second quarter was a testament to how hard the Bulldogs work.

“I am proud of them for sneaking it out because we could have easily folded,” Holland said. “But we got a good second quarter run and that propelled us to the win after coming out so flat. I was proud of how the guys didn’t drop their heads and pulled out the win.”

Holland said it was not a great effort from his team.

“We played up and down all game,” Holland said. “I don’t think we coached good because we didn’t come out with the same intensity that we did against Headland. And as the coach I take all the blame for that. Hats off to Dale County because they came in and played as good as I thought they would against us, but I didn’t think we had a great team effort tonight and that all starts with me.”

The Bulldogs trailed for the entire first quarter, but after Dale County scored the opening two points of the second quarter, the Warriors did not score for the rest of the quarter. Pike County used a full court press defense to smother the Warriors and Dale County had no answer for the pressure. Martellis Foster scored six of the team’s 14 points in the quarter to fuel the comeback.

Foster finished the game with 7 points.

Holland’s team ran a stall tactic for the final three minutes of the first half when the Bulldogs had a 24-21 lead. Time ticked off the clock as Tevin Andrews and then Quay Bailey held the ball with no opposition from Dale County.

The third quarter went to PCHS as well, 12-11 and the final quarter was an even 10-10.

Bailey led the Bulldogs with 11 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Andrews had seven points, eight rebounds and five assists. Kendrick Jackson chipped in eight points and five rebounds. Jarrod Wilson had six points and Deandre Mathis contributed four points.

The PCHS B Team lost Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs host Headland Friday night beginning with the B Team game at 4:30 p.m.

Click here for a gallery of Tuesday’s action