The Eastside Bulldogs, with nothing to lose and everything to gain, crossed paths for the third and final time this season with the Morrison Eagles in the 7-8 county tournament finals.
Morrison outlasted the Eastside Bulldogs by a score of 41-32 to claim the county championship Tuesday night -- but not without a scare.
Irving Espinoza for Morrison led all scoring with 15 points, and Andrew Fults for Eastside finished with 13 points.
The scare for Morrison came when Eastside ended the first half with a 17-12 lead, something the Eagles are not used to.
The Eagles responded in the second half by shutting down the Eastside offense and turning up the full-court pressure. Morrison put a hand in every face of the Bulldogs to start the second half.
Dillon Young and Dillon Earls were the only two Bulldogs to hit from the floor and Logan Young added a single free throw for a five-point third quarter for Eastside. Shots were few and far between to start the second half, and rebounding was controlled by Morrison in the second half.
Ethan Smith and Espinoza took over for Morrison and those two Eagles soared their way to a combined 14 of the 18-point total for Morrison to start the second half. Devin Martin added the other four points for Morrison.
Fast-break opportunities off turnovers helped the Eagles reclaim the lead for Morrison by the end of the third quarter. It was all or nothing for these two teams as players from both sides were throwing their bodies on the floor after loose balls. The third quarter was very physical for both teams and the advantage out of the halftime clearly went to Morrison.
With three quarters of play in the books, Morrison would have to fend off the Bulldogs for six more minutes. Fults and Earls would hit the boards hard and rebound the ball for Eastside and get the second attempt to fall for the Bulldogs’ only shots from the floor. Morrison would make Eastside earn its remaining points from the free-throw line. In the fourth quarter, Eastside could only hit 4-of-10 from the charity stripe. Eastside struggled from the line Tuesday night by shooting a lackluster 10-of-29 which crippled their chances of an upset.
Morrison continued the fourth much like the third, by constantly harassing the Bulldog guards and pushing the tempo to favor the Eagles. Raven Lewandowski and Espinoza hit from the floor late in the game and Martin, Smith, and Espinoza would make good on several chances from the free-throw line as time ticked away.
Eastside sneaked out to a surprising lead by setting up its offense and looking for scoring opportunities instead of forcing them. Eastside was very meticulous on choosing shots in the first half and its defense was playing Morrison step for step.
The slower pace favored a team like the Bulldogs in the championship game and definitely had the Eagles scratching their heads after trailing the first quarter 8-6.
Eastside continued to play their slower paced game in the second quarter. Morrison had the three-point shot covered by extending its defense past the line where Dillon and Logan Young are known to shoot.
So that left the quicker Fults to work inside for Eastside against Martin from Morrison. Logan Young and Fults scored all nine points for Eastside in the second quarter.
Ronaldo Martinez and Espinoza provided shots for Morrison in the second quarter and a pair of free throws by Smith added to the Eagle total. But the shot selection for the Eagles in the first half was not stellar and the Eagles were down at the half 17-12.
EAGLE SCORING - Iriving Espinoza 15, Ethan Smith 12, Devin Martin 6, Ronaldo Martinez 4, Joel Garcia 2, Raven Lewandowski 2
BULLDOG SCORING - Andrew Fults 13, Dillon Earls 6, Dillon Young 5, Logan Young 5, Axel Rodriguez 3