The Bearcats suffered their second loss of the season on Friday falling 74-70 in overtime to Dougherty in the Monroe Thanksgiving Tournament. The Trojans took a 15-12 lead after the first quarter, but were forced to adjust their defensive approach after Bainbridge (0-2) showed it could break the press.

“They pressed us probably halfway through the first quarter and then they got out of the press because we were breaking it well,” head coach Terry Smith said.

The press caused a lot of problems for the Bearcats in the season opener against Monroe, but they spent the week making adjustments and improving.

“We just got better spacing,” Smith said. “We really didn’t change anything. We didn’t bring as many people down to help break the press so now we don’t have all that congestion and we made some good passes.”

The Bearcats found a groove in the middle of the game as they matched Dougherty point for point in the second quarter and outscored the Trojans 17-12 in the third to take a 44-42 lead into the fourth.

“I think we kind of wore Dougherty down with our full court press,” Smith said. “Every quarter we lead, we got a lot of turnovers from our defense.”

Milton Gayle and Maleke Lurry led the charge for Bainbridge. Gayle had 16 points and Lurry finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Lurry was one of three Bainbridge starters, along with Jeremy Freeman and Jacquez Bruton, to foul out in the fourth quarter, which allowed Dougherty to get back into the game.

“We had a couple guys that fouled out that didn’t even get to finish the fourth quarter,” Smith said. “Those three guys were starters. I think that hurt us some, but it helped some of our younger kids get out there.”

Bainbridge led 63-61 late in the fourth, but a defensive miscue allowed Dougherty to tie the game and force overtime.

“It came down to the last seconds of the game,” Smith said. “They got the ball and dribbled it down. That was the one time I didn’t think we played great defense. They got a shot at the basket and I felt that if we played a little better defense they would have had to take a jump shot.”

Dougherty then raced out to a quick lead in the overtime period and held on for the come from behind win.

“In overtime they went on a 5-0 run in less than 15-seconds,” Smith said. “We left one of their best shooters open and he knocked down a three. Then we turned the ball over and they made a basket.”

The Trojans outscored Bainbridge 11-7 in overtime to win the game 74-70.