Jasper falls to Pollack Central 66-57 Friday
By GEORGIA PURDY Newsboy Correspondent

JASPER'S KWAME SPIKES sweeps down the lane for a layup bucket during last Friday's contest with Pollack Central. Jasper dropped the contest 66-57 in the final non-district contest before the start of district play. Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy

The Jasper Bulldogs lost 66-57 to Pollack Central Friday night in their last preseason game before starting district play this week.

"This was our final tuneup leading up to district and we feel teams such as Central can only help with our district preparations," coach Terry Young said.

Central's height proved a disadvantage for Jasper. With 6'7" center Dakota Hollis able to slap away the potential buckets plus several other over-six-foot defenders, the 'Dogs were not able to connect on a number of attempts.

In addition, the Bulldogs missed some shots where Central's defense wasn't the problem.

"On the offensive side, we were concerned about shot selection," assistant coach Tim Little said. "We were settling too often for outside jump shots instead of penetrating and attacking the goal."

Newsboy photo/Georgia Purdy D.J. JACKSON AND CHRISTIAN GOFF battle for a rebound against Pollack Central.

In the first quarter, the teams swapped points until Central pulled away to close at 21-17.

Jasper scored first in the second period, then missed two layups, one on a steal. Central continued to block shots and pulled ahead 28-19 before Roderick Kyles dumped in first bucket of the quarter. Kwame Spikes scored twice, but the 'Dogs were down 32-25. By the half, Central led 42-32 and Jacoby Bias had scored 16 of his 23 game points.

The Bulldogs pulled to within five points three times during the fourth quarter, but could not slide past Central's strong defense, nor match their four players who scored double digits.

Jasper's defense has improved but there were still rough spots.

"On the defensive side we were concerned with the man-to-man breakdowns that led to easy shots," Little said. "We also allowed a number of offensive rebounds."

Kwame Spikes led the Bulldogs with 16 points, followed by Dominique Bailey, 12.

Earlier in the week, they lost 89-69 to Kountze after a close 41-37 first half.

"The game started pulling away from us in the third quarter," assistant coach Tim Little said. "In the fourth they got the first six points. Most of this was because of Jasper's defensive breakdowns."

Bailey led Jasper's scoring effort with 24 points, followed by Aaron Garrett, 17; Spikes, 10; and Roderick Williams, 8.

Jasper opened district against Bridge City and will face Hamshire-Fannett Friday night at home. The freshman game begins at 5 p.m., with JV and varsity following.