The Pike County Bulldogs bounced back Thursday and walked away with an easy 66-35 win over G.W. Long in the first round of the Goshen High School Christmas Tournament.

“We played pretty good tonight,” said Bulldogs head coach Doug Holland. “We have a long way to go. We still missed some easy shots. The difference tonight was that we played with a little more energy.”

The Bulldogs’ goal is to get out in front of the defense and use their high intensity transitional game to set the tone. They weren’t able to do that Tuesday and lost their first game of the season, but they found more energy on Thursday.

“We want to play good defense right now,” Holland said. “We need our defense to create our offense. We take pride in creating turnovers. We were able to use our trap and that helped us on offense.”

The Bulldogs entered the game without their leading scorer, senior Deshon Cowling. To balance the offense, four Bulldog shot double figures. The Bulldogs were led by Jerrell Lawson and Damon Andrews, who both finished with 18 points. Jahmir Lampley finished with 17 points while Kamari Jackson finished with 11.

“That is one thing that we are trying to work on with our bench,” Holland said. “Without our leading scorer in Deshon Cowling, the main thing we wanted at the beginning of the year is to have everybody score to give us a chance down the stretch.”

The Bulldogs never trailed in the ball game thanks to a fast start that gave the Bulldogs a 21-11 lead. A 10-0 run carried into the second quarter, giving the Bulldogs a 31-11 lead.

Their lead continued to grow in the second half, stretching at one time to 31 points.

“If you win you know you have to keep playing,” Holland said. “I am just proud of the team to get the win and to be able to play in the winners bracket.”

The Bulldogs advance into the winner’s bracket, where they will meet Dale County at 5 p.m. this evening.