Burkert, Bulldogs shoot down Falcons

February 20, 2016 at 12:09a.m.

By ERIC FORTUNE

POLAND

Poland said goodbye to a tough, six-game stretch by getting back to what it does best on Friday night.

The Bulldogs shot the lights out in a 95-55 rout of the visiting Jefferson Falcons, hitting 52 percent from the floor — including 16 3-pointers — in a matchup of All-American Conference powers from different tiers.

Poland had gone just 3-3 in its last six games after a 14-1 start.

“We shot the ball pretty well,” Poland coach Ken Grisdale said. “It was really important that we did. We’ve had a bit of a rough stretch. We just needed to relax and play.”

After an early 7-4 deficit, the Bulldogs (17-4) caused havoc on the defensive end forcing the Falcons (18-4) into countless turnovers.

“They made a lot of shots tonight, but we left them open,” Jefferson coach Steve French said. “We weren’t ready to go from the start and that’s on me. I’ve got to be ready to go. We should be ready to go.

“It’s just the way we played — no defense at all. We weren’t interested in playing defense tonight. We just have to flush this one and get ready for the tournament.”

The Falcons were led by Sam Hitchcock’s 19 points as his seven points in the first quarter kept Jefferson in it at 21-11 after one. Jake Payne finished with 11 points for the Falcons.

Jefferson was able to keep Poland’s field goal attempts down from 21 to 12 in the second quarter, but still saw the Bulldogs extend their advantage out to 15 at the half, 38-23.

“We talked coming into the game that the first quarter was going to be the key for us,” Grisdale said. “We’ve played them before and we’re not 100 percent sure they are confident in that they can get us. I think the mindset is such a powerful thing. We felt if we could jump on them quick, that they would question whether they could hang. I thought the first quarter was good.

“We shot the ball pretty well. Second quarter I thought we got sloppy. I thought we turned the ball over too many times. You can’t have empty possessions, especially now with tournament time. You want to give yourself a shot. I feel like in the third quarter we came back out and were solid.”

Solid might be an understatement as Poland shot 12 of 14 from the field while holding the Falcons to just 5-of-14 shooting. The Bulldogs sank seven 3s with Jared Burkert’s three makes adding to his game-high total of 29 points.

By the time the fourth quarter came around, the Bulldogs held a 72-37 advantage as 14 of the 15 players who dressed for Poland got into the scoring column.

Matt Baker and Kyle Patterson added 11 apiece, respectively.

“I feel like after the first quarter, we really locked down. My assistant, Chad Fender, does a great job prepping our defense. We played solid enough offensively that it makes defense a lot easier.”