Bears rally to turn back Jasper, 63-55

Published 9:56 pm Tuesday, December 5, 2017

LITTLE CYPRESS — Overcoming a tough second quarter, the Little Cypress-Mauriceville Bears used a superb second half surge to turn back the Jasper Bulldogs 63-55 at the Bear Cave Tuesday night.

Jasper used a 26-11 run in the second quarter to go up 34-25 at intermission and led by as many as 10 at 41-31 midway through the second quarter until the Bears finished out the game with a 32-14 spurt.

Guard Braden Bridges paced the Bear offense with a game-high 20 points as he buried four three-pointers, including two in the fourth quarter. He tallied 10 of his points in the final stanza.

Fellow guard Cole Frost chimed in with 14 points and gave the Bears their first lead in the second half with a long three-point bomb to make it 52-49 with 2:42 remaining. The Bears then closed it out with a 11-6 run.

Bear post Katon Brown powered his way to 13 points, all coming in the second half. He scored 10 of his points in the third quarter as he helped rally the Bears back to within 45-43 at the end of the quarter. He also finished with a team-high eight rebounds.

LC-M forward Christian Weatherly had 11 points and four boards but missed most of the fourth quarter after being injured. Bear point guard Tyreke Brown finished with five rebounds while Tristan Rhodes had four.

Trailing 14-8 after the first quarter, the Bulldogs opened up a three-point barrage in the second period to grab the nine-point halftime cushion.

Tee Collins was the main instigator as he poured in 10 points in the second quarter and buried two treys. He led the Bulldogs with 16 points and finished with nine rebounds.

Bulldog point guard Tay Sells finished with 11 points but was held scoreless in the second half. Jasper post Voshoun Herrington finished with eight points and a game-high 10 boards. Rico Phillips tossed in seven points while Rikel Collins and Christian Kraus added six apiece.

The Bulldogs finished with a 33-26 rebounding edge. But went a woeful 6-of-15 from the free-throw line. The Bears were 14-of-23 from the charity stripe.

The Bears finished with 18 turnovers, 11 of them coming in the first half. The Bulldogs finished with 17 turnovers, 13 of them in the second half including seven in the decisive fourth period.

The Bears (4-4) will look to continue their winning ways Thursday through Saturday at the Hardin-Jefferson Marathon while the Bulldogs will participate in the Tennison Tournament in Orangefield.