Basketball is a fickle game. Sometimes you have it; sometimes you don’t. On Friday night against Barbour County, the Pike County Bulldogs did not have it in a 66-31 loss to the Jaguars.

Both teams started the game ice cold from the floor. Neither team got on the board until Barbour County’s Brion Patrick hit a single free throw with 4:17 remaining in the first quarter. After Patrick’s basket, Barbour County closed out the quarter with 10 straight points to take an 11-0 lead by the quarter’s end.

While Barbour County began to heat up on offense, the Bulldogs stayed cold. The Jaguars scored the game’s first 24 points. Pike County finally got on the board when Jerrell Lawson hit a three with 4:34 left in the first half. Ryshaun Hall added another three two minutes later, but, by that time, Barbour County had already raced out to an insurmountable 41-6 lead.

The Bulldogs played their best basketball in the third quarter, but Barbour County remained hot, especially from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs went on an 11-0 run, with six points coming from senior Ryshaun Hall, in the third quarter to pull within 30 points, but Barbour County was able to coast to an easy victory and a regular season area title.

On the night, the Jaguars hit 10 three-pointers, including five consecutive triples in the first and second quarters. Hall led the Bulldogs with 13 points. Kamari Jackson added seven points. The Jaguars were led with 23 points each from James Grubbs and Stephon Walton.

The loss drops the Bulldogs to 2-3 in area play on the season, with a home game against Abbeville rounding out the area slate. Pike County head coach Doug Holland said his team will be ready for the Yellow Jackets. “We just need to go out and get a win against Abbeville,” Holland said. “We came out flat tonight. I don’t know if we were over-comfy in our gym or what. We have a lot we still need to work on. We’ll be fine. Our main thing is just to keep on working.”

The Pike County Lady Bulldogs shared a similar fate to their male counterparts. They fell to Barbour County 41-8.

Pike County next plays Abbeville in Brundidge on Tuesday. The JV boys get things started at 4 p.m.