Bloom-Carroll holds off 19th-seeded Big Walnut

CARROLL – Bloom-Carroll has had its share of heartbreaking losses this season.

The Bulldogs lost two games by one point and two other games by two points — with two of the losses coming at the buzzer.

Bloom-Carroll was on the brink of another crushing defeat Tuesday in a Central District Division II second-round tournament against visiting Big Walnut. This time, however, the Bulldogs were able to pull out a hard-fought 47-45 win over the 19th-seeded Golden Eagles at Tom Petty Gymnasium.

Bloom-Carroll (17-7) advances to the district semifinal and will play the Bexley-Columbus South winner at 7 p.m. Tuesday at a site to be determined.

The Bulldogs looked as if they might put the Eagles away late in the third quarter when Bloom-Carroll built a 39-30 lead. But Big Walnut kept fighting back and eventually tied it at 43 with 2:30 left.

Sam Bordner hit a short jumper to give the Bulldogs a 45-43, but Big Walnut had a solid possession and scored inside to tie it with 1:07 left. The Bulldogs missed a 3-point attempt with 45 seconds left.

It was still tied at 45 when the Eagles had a chance to take the lead with 14 seconds left, but they missed the front end of a one-and-one.

Andrew James drove into the lane and was fouled with only 3.7 second left. He hit the free throw to give the Bulldogs the lead. He missed the second one, but Bordner grabbed the rebound and was fouled with 1.8 seconds left. He made the first one and missed the second one.

After a Big Walnut time out, the Eagles threw the ball the length of the floor, but Grant Dozer intercepted the pass, which allowed the Bulldog faithful to breathe a sigh of relief.

"That was definitely a real grinder," James said. "We've lost a lot of close games and we've won a few, and we learned from them. We just tried to keep fighting, and fortunately they missed a free throw and when we got the ball back, I just tried to attack and draw a foul.

"It's just good that we were able to pull this out because it's in the tournament and we get to keep practicing."

On a night when the Bulldogs didn't shoot the ball well, Dozer, a senior came up big. Big Walnut concentrated all their defensive efforts on James and Bordner, and Dozer was solid, especially in the first half.

He scored 11 of his 15 points in the first two quarters to help the Bulldogs take a 13-6 first-quarter lead and a 20-14 halftime advantage. Dozer also had four rebounds, four assists and was 7 of 8 at the free throw line.

"Grant really played well and came up big for us," Bulldogs coach Tom Petty said. "(Big Walnut) did all kinds of trick defenses and did a good job on Sam and Andrew. We had to have that third guy that could score and Grant really picked up the slack and provided that for us."

Bloom-Carroll was able to build its nine point lead late in the third quarter thanks to a 9-2 run. Dozer scored five points and Zach Swartz came of the bench to score four during that stretch.

James led the Bulldogs with 16 points, including three 3s. Bordner added seven points and eight rebounds.

twilson@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4358

Twitter: @twil2323