CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman was back home at Bearcat Arena for one more matchup on the hardwood before Christmas arrives and the ‘Cats put together a dominant performance against Pike Road. Cullman smothered the Patriots on the defensive end and knocked down 14 three-pointers on the offensive end to collect a 70-40 win.
Bearcats Head Coach Stu Stuedeman was proud of the way his team bounced back from three-point range after a rough shooting performance at the Jasper Christmas Classic over the weekend.
“Hitting 14 threes after going 0 for 21 is pretty nice. That’s why we never put restrictions on our players, we know that they’re going to shoot their way out of it. Because that’s what we do in practice, and we empower our players to just keep shooting and shooting,” Stuedeman said. “If you restrict your players and start talking about it, you’re never going to get any better. You have to be who you are and believe that all your practice and effort you’ve put in is going to pay off. Going 0 for 21 and then hitting 14 of them the next game is just a testament to who we are.”
Gray Hopper and Jake Dorough nailed a couple of three-pointers to give Cullman an early, 6-0 lead. Hopper buried another three to make it 9-0 and Evan Wilson laid one in to keep the ‘Cats in front 11-3 later in the period. Brooks Loftin scored the next six points for Cullman to make it a 17-5 game and Preston Gay knocked down a three to make it 20-5. Owens Graves added one more bucket in the final seconds of the first quarter to give the Bearcats a 22-8 lead at the start of the second.
Gay drilled a three and split a pair of free throws early in the second quarter to keep Cullman ahead 26-8. After splitting a pair of free throws, Loftin threw down a couple of fast break dunks to extend the lead to 31-10. Jake Dorough hit another three, Gay sank a pair of free throws and Wilson scored inside to make it a 38-21 game. Loftin knocked down a three from the right corner just before the buzzer to put the ‘Cats on top 41-21 at halftime.
Jake Dorough’s third three-pointer of the game gave Cullman a 44-21 lead early in the third quarter. Loftin scored inside and Sam Dorough drained a three to make it a 49-21 game with five minutes to play in the period. Three-pointers from Emery Bonds, Hopper and Sam Dorough stretched the Bearcat lead to 58-28 by the start of the fourth quarter.
Wilson knocked down a three to start the fourth and a couple possessions later, Griffin Carter laid one in to make it 64-31. Max Brooks scored inside and then split a pair of free throws to keep Cullman in front 67-38 and Bonds buried another three to put the finishing touches on a 70-40 win for the Bearcats.
Loftin led Cullman with 11 points in the win, followed by Jake Dorough, Gay and Hopper who each finished with nine. Wilson added eight points and Sam Dorough and Bonds each posted six.
Before hosting Pike Road on Monday, the Bearcats competed in the City of Jasper Christmas Classic over the weekend. Cullman fell to Jonesboro (68-67) and Dutchtown (56-34) out of Georgia in a pair of hard-fought games and Stuedeman was proud of the way the ‘Cats battled against some strong competition.
“Those games in Jasper make or break our season because we proved to ourselves that we can compete with teams that are way bigger, way stronger, way faster and in a pickup game they might beat us by 50,” Stuedeman said. “We should’ve won on Friday and then Saturday we were so gassed, but we fought and fought, and it was a 9-point game with five and a half minutes to go in the fourth. So, I’m proud of how we competed down there, and it just shows you what we can be. We were outmatched at every position and our guys didn’t back down so that was great.”
Cullman will compete at the Metro Tournament in Homewood this weekend.
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