The Bainbridge High School Bearcats dropped a tight 58-52 road decision to the Thomasville High School Bulldogs Saturday, giving them a split for the weekend.
Friday night, Myles Thomas, Malik Middleton and Devontae Jones combined for 41 points to lead the Bearcats to a 54-49 home victory over the Cairo High School Syrupmakers.
Thomas led the way Friday night with 16 points. Middleton added 13 and Jones put in 12.
A lay up off the left glass by Jones Saturday night cut an early Bulldogs lead to 8-6 at the end of the first quarter. A close shot by Thomas with 4:12 left in the second quarter put the Bearcats up 14-13. The Bulldogs reclaimed the lead 23-20 at halftime.
A 3-point jumper from the right side by Thomas with 3:30 left in the third quarter pulled the Bearcats even 27-27. Trevon Shaw then grabbed a rebound and put it back in with 3:01 remaining to put the Bearcats up 29-27. They led 32-31 entering the fourth quarter.
They went up 37-36 when Jones hit a 3-point jumper from the left side with 5:48 showing on the fourth quarter clock.
With the score tied 39-39, the Bulldogs went on a 4-0 scoring run to go up 43-39, a lead they maintained the rest of the way.
“I thought we played hard and well tonight” Bearcats coach Rickey McCullough said following Saturday’s loss to the Bulldogs. “We kept it close all the way and had a chance to win.”
Friday night, Jones delivered a 3-point shot at the 3:20 mark of the first quarter to give the Bearcats a 12-5 lead over the Syrupmakers. The Bearcats led 18-5 at the end of the first quarter.
Shaw opened the second quarter with a layup off the left glass to put the Bearcats up 20-5. Thomas followed with a 3-point jumper from the left side to make it 23-5. Thomas’ layup with 45 seconds left in the second quarter sent the Bearcats to halftime with a 20-point, 29-9 lead.
Cairo’s Stacy Madson, who took game scoring honors with 29 points, pulled his team to within seven at 50-43 when he hit a jumper with just 31.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter to spark a late Syrupmakers run.
After the game, McCullough said he thought his team played real good defense and were very aggressive offensively.
“Cairo is a good team and we knew they were going to make a run at us late,” he said. “I thought we withstood it well.”