Bulldogs come up short

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February 21, 2012

By Pete Chiodo Meadville Tribune The Meadville Tribune Tue Feb 21, 2012, 11:51 PM EST

EDINBORO — It’s said that patience is a virtue. And the Girard boys basketball team is riding that virtue into the District 10 Class AAA quarterfinals after methodically picking apart the Meadville Bulldogs, 44-37, during a district play-in game held Tuesday at Edinboro University’s McComb Fieldhouse.

“What can I say, Meadville is a heck of a basketball team, no ifs or ands,” said Girard head coach Darrin Mayes. “(Meadville’s) Norm Price is a fantastic coach. Their players are very good. But I’m proud of my kids. They came to compete.”

The YellowJackets improved to 15-8 with the win and move on to face Grove City in a quarterfinal matchup scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. at Slippery Rock University’s Morrow Fieldhouse.

Meadville ends its season at 16-7.

“We got outplayed,” said coach Price. “They deserve all the credit. They played a great game. And we picked a bad time to not play well. They outplayed us. They out-coached us. They deserved to win it, no question about it.”

The main difference between the two teams became starkly apparent right from the tipoff. Girard played deliberately on offense, dishing out numerous passes looking for the best shot.

And often times that best shot belonged to 6-foot-3 junior forward Joe Swanson, who finished with a game-best 18 points and had nine rebounds.

“Joe Swanson and Joe Dunn, they didn’t play well against LeBoeuf (on Feb. 17),” said Mayes. “Swanson felt that he cost us the game. And I think he came out (Tuesday) on a mission. He played a very aggressive game, very physical. He was able to get a lot of easy buckets inside.”

Meadville, on the other hand, suffered from an itchy trigger finger. That worked for the Bulldogs when they were playing up-tempo Region 6 opponents. But with Girard eating up so much time on its side of the court, Meadville’s opportunities were limited.

As a consequence, Meadville wasn't getting real close to the bucket. The vast majority of Meadville’s shots were taken from beyond 10 feet. And as a result, many of them didn’t fall. In the first quarter, for instance, the Bulldogs were 1-for-8 and finished the frame trailing 13-2.

“(Girard) played a great defensive game,” said Price. “We talked during Monday’s practice that we were going to have to be patient — we’re not a very patient team — but we needed to be a little patient and at least make a couple passes or we were going to end up playing defense for 25, 30 minutes.

“And then the way we started the game, you could tell we weren’t listening very well.”

Meadville finally got some shots to go in, and picked up on defense, forcing their way back into the game over the next two quarters, even taking a 26-25 lead early in the fourth.

However, Girard wouldn’t be denied in the fourth quarter. Their guards started hitting some 3-pointers, and the defense forced Meadville into some more poor shots at the other end to pull back out in front.

Blake Byham scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 13. Carl Lewis had five of his eight points in the fourth, including a 3-pointer. And Swanson added four to his big tally.

“This is by far the best game we’ve played defensively for four quarters,” said Mayes. “We’ve done three, we’ve done two and a half. But this is our best defensive game that we’ve had for all four quarters.”

For Meadville, Donte Hollingsworth led the way with 14 points. He scored eight of Meadville’s first 10 points in the first half, and the first six points of the second half for the ’Dogs.

Artrel Foster followed with 13 points following a nine-point fourth quarter effort. Zak Price ended the game with eight points.

“They missed some shots and let us get back in the game. But they kept playing good defense and we couldn’t pull away,” coach Price said.

“Someone is going to lose. It’s just disappointing to lose in a game like this when you didn’t have one of your better efforts.

“But that doesn’t take anything away from the season that these guys had. The kids worked hard and they came a long way this year.”

Pete Chiodo can be reached at 724-6370 ext. 275 or by e-mail at pchiodo@meadvilletribune.com. Follow us on Twitter @Tribune_Sport and like us on Facebook.

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