Eagles weather pair of fourth-quarter Bulldog rallies

By Rudy Coggins
Published in Sports on February 13, 2015 1:48 PM

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rcoggins@newsargus.com

A dash of Ethan Chapin.

A pinch of Zack Barnes.

A heavy dose of Dennis Mitchell.

All those ingredients blended together allowed Rosewood to turn back archrival Princeton, 52-42, in the Carolina 1-A Conference regular-season finale for both teams Thursday evening.

Mitchell pumped in a game-high 21 points for the Eagles, who snapped a two-game skid. Seniors Michael Wooten and Tanner Woodard dropped in 11 points apiece for the Bulldogs, who suffered just their second defeat in their last six outings.

Neither team developed an offensive rhythm early.

Rosewood (14-7 overall, 10-4 Carolina) played individually and forced the action when it had the ball. Princeton, meanwhile, committed turnovers on seven of its first eight possessions and missed its only shot from the floor.

Despite the untidy action, the Bulldogs (8-14, 6-8) turned a five-point deficit into an 18-14 lead.

"As bad as we played, it's amazing we were in the game," said PHS head coach Jeff Davis, whose team converted more free throws (17) than field goals (8).

"We played terrible, so bad offensively ... throwing the ball away with nobody on us. We had been playing really good lately."

The Eagles closed out the first half with a 10-0 run. Chapin and Barnes drained wide-open 3-pointers to make it 24-18 at the break. The duo combined for 13 points, including nine from behind the arc for the game.

"I thought, especially in the first half, we did a poor job of executing ... didn't stay with the gameplan, didn't stay focus, were doing some things on our own," RHS head coach Daniel Mitchell. "As the game went on in the second quarter, we did a much better job of actually running our sets, running our plays and finding an open player.

"The end of the half, those big shots were key."

Rosewood built a pair of 10-point leads in the second half.

Dennis Mitchell's offensive putback made it 41-31 early in the final period. The Dogs climbed to within 43-39 on Wooten's layup off of Woodard's assist. Woodard scored moments later on an assist from Landon Futrell.

Consecutive backdoor layups by Barnes and Airic Murray boosted the advantage to 49-42. Princeton wouldn't score again as Mitchell, who snared 12 rebounds and blocked two shots, sealed the outcome at the free throw line. Mitchell shot 11 of 13 at the stripe, including 7 of 8 in the final period.

"Part of our gameplan is throw the ball down low and play off it, but we know teams are going to double- and triple-team, and it's about him making the right read off of it," coach Mitchell said. "We kept our composure a little bit better tonight when they got the score down (to single digits.

"We executed offensively, got a good look (at the basket) and got fouled. We didn't panic in those moments."