Poor shooting dooms Bulldogs against Bernie

PORTAGEVILLE -- Bernie's Jordan McGowan scored 23 points, Portageville struggled from the field and the Bulldogs suffered a tough district championship loss on Friday, 57-47, at Portageville High School.

"They were just better than us tonight -- pure and simple," Portageville coach Jason Irby said about Bernie. "We didn't play the type of game that we needed to play and they did a good job in what they needed to do to beat us. It was just a tough night all the way around for us."

The Bulldogs couldn't buy a basket in the first half. Bernie sat tightly in their zone defense, keeping Portageville out of the paint and forcing them into tough shots.

"Mostly, we beat ourselves," Senior Fred Treadwell said. "We took bad shots, there was one pass and one shot. If we could have gotten better shot selection, it could have been a better game."

Portageville shot just 36 percent (9 of 25) in the first two quarters but didn't fair much better throughout the game ending with a 32 percent field goal percentage. In 53 shots, they hit 17 from the floor.

They were down 13-8 after the first quarter.

"They did a good job of packing it in on us," said Irby. "We never really did knock down outside shots to loosen it up. We did a better job in the second half penetrating the zone but, even still, we had some shots that we couldn't finish."

Their offensive woes seemed to carry over onto the defensive side at times.

Although heavily guarded and with barely enough room to breath, let alone get a shot off, McGowan shook off a rusty semifinals round and exploded for 23 points with exceptional shooting from behind the arc.

"I don't think he had a good, wide open shot," said Irby. "Our kids were there, but, we knew he wasn't going to come out struggling. He played really well. They did a good job screening for him."

McGowan nailed one tough 3-pointer after another on his way to a 5 of 8 shooting clip. He hit three in the first half to give the Mules the early momentum.

"We tried to contest his shot, but, he's a good shooter," said Treadwell. "All you can do is get a hand up and hopefully he'll miss."

And while McGowan garnered most of the attention, Bernie's Jesse Shelton stole the show in the second half. Shelton scored 10 of his 16 points in the second quarter by slipping past Bulldog defenders on his way to the basket for slightly easy layups.

"When they pay a lot of attention to Jordan, which most people have all year," Bernie coach Brad Botsch said, "it has allowed our kids all season long to increase their skill level. Jesse just really took it right at them and showed no fear.

"He's the type of kid that I don't think he's ever got nervous in his life."

With McGowan burning the nets and Shelton making his own path to the rim, the Mules entered halftime with a 28-18 lead.

"I've worked on it and I knew it was going to be hard to get a shot off," McGowan said. "Portageville's known for their great man defense that they play. I just found small openings that I thought I could get it off and when I did it just went in for me.

"I've been struggling the last couple of games but, tonight, it was just all going right."

The second half was an even contest between the two district title hopefuls. Portageville got better from the field hitting 4 of 9 shot attempts, including two 3-pointers from Treadwell.

Bernie led 42-31 after three quarters.

"I was proud of the way our kids fought and tried to stay with them," Irby said. "We just couldn't get much of a run on them. That's a credit to them. They're a very good team.

"It's hard when that ball doesn't go in the basket. It's hard on the defensive end to sometimes maintain that defensive intensity you need."

Portageville cut it as close as six points in the fourth quarter but failed to get any closer.

"We knew it was going to take a monster effort from our kids to get the job done," Botsch said. "Thankfully, our guys really focused better than we have all year on the gameplan and we executed it about as well as we possibly could."

Treadwell led Portageville with 14 points and six rebounds while Jake Young added nine.

The Bulldogs ended their season with a 16-8 record.

"I thought we did play pretty good defense," Treadwell said. "We hustled for loose balls and played scrappy with them. It just didn't turn out our way."

PORTAGEVILLE (47) -- Tevin Walker 8, Isaac Ray 7, Dominique Walker 7, Fred Treadwell 14, Rondraus Booker 2, Jake Young 9. FG 17, FT 8-10, F 18. (3-pointers: Ray 1, D. Walker 1, Treadwell 3. Fouled out: T. Walker, D. Walker.)

BERNIE (57) -- Cameron Shipman 2, Matt Eaves 7, Jesse Shelton 16, Sam Turner 2, Sammy Walker 7, Jordan McGowan 23. FG 20, FT 12-21, F 12. (3-pointers: McGowan 5. Fouled out: none.)