Shoals Christian ends Bulldogs’ run

FLORENCE — After the game between the Belgreen Bulldogs and Shoals Christian Flame Friday night in Florence, the graduating seniors of this year and last year  have two things in common.

Both squads feel they were put out of the postseason too early, and they went out with a bad taste in their mouths.

Last year Belgreen felt like poor officiating handicapped them in a loss to Decatur Heritage in the sub-region game.

This year it was a poor performance by Belgreen (and a good one by Shoals Christian) that led to their defeat.

In the end, Belgreen simply had a bad night on the court, but Shoals Christian had one of its best.

The Flame ended up winning 79-50 in what turned out to be the most lopsided game of the Bulldogs’ 2012-13 season.

Both teams  started the game firing on all cylinders, but a run by Shoals Christian propelled them to a 23-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

Belgreen answered by outscoring its opponent 17-12 in the second period of play.

The Bulldogs were down only seven at 35-28 at the break, and a big turnaround was expected by the crowd in the second half.

Unfortunately for Belgreen this was not to be, as Shoals Christian continued rolling and making a large percentage of its shots from the field.

The seven point deficit had turned into a 22-point one by the end of the third, and the game fell out of reach.

Chase Landers led Belgreen in scoring with 22 points on the night.

Brock Hester had 16 points, Dustin Smith came in with 11, and Dakota Davis added 1.

— stats kept by Jeremy Reed