Every time the Bulldogs knocked on the door of Bremond’s game-long lead, the Tigers were there to answer.
As a result, the No. 15-ranked Bulldogs exited the playoffs by falling to Bremond 68-57 at The Highlands at McLennan Community College.
Bartlett, champion of District 27-A, finished the season with a 22-9 mark. Bremond (15-7) advanced to face the Thorndale-Spurger winner in next week’s Region IV quarterfinals.
The Bremond trio of LiDarral Bailey, D. Ray Morgan and Trenton Anderson proved to be a heavy load for the Bulldogs to control. Those three combined for 62 of the Tigers’ 68 points, with Anderson dominating the interior, joined by Bailey and Morgan working from the outside.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs dug deeply from the 3-point well, only to draw a couple of drops. Bartlett averaged in the single digits from beyond the arc, making just two. The perimeter shooting struggles and the inability to convert putbacks early in the game forced the Bulldogs to play from behind all night.
“The guys played hard and they stepped it up a notch,” Bartlett first-year coach Peter Reese said. “But we had an off night. We usually hit our 3s, but we had a horrible night.”
Nevertheless, the Bulldogs hung in there and trimmed a 13-point halftime deficit to two points midway through the third quarter.
Down 38-25, the Bulldogs stormed out of the locker room by reeling off eight straight points. Pierre Smith, Alan Speigelhauer, Gabriel Gadison and Michael Smith converted baskets to force a momentum shift. Moments later, a seven-point spurt put the Bulldogs within two at 44-42 with just under three minutes left in the quarter.
Morgan and Bartlett’s Kogan Ewing traded buckets to keep the separation at two, but the Tigers closed the quarter on an 8-2 run to take a 54-46 lead into the final eight minutes.
Pierre Smith and Ewing both got inside for baskets to put the Bulldogs back within four in the first two minutes of the fourth, but the Tigers took control of the pace and the boards the rest of the way.
“We had to switch to a zone (defense) to slow them down,” Bremond coach Robbie Kasowski said. “We didn’t rebound well early, but we did a better job later.”
Bailey led all scorers with 23 points, 19 in the first half. Morgan was close behind with 21 and Anderson pumped in 18 more despite going 2-of-12 from the free throw line. Pierre Smith paced the Bulldogs with 19, followed by Spiegelhauer with 13 and Ewing with 10.
It was the final game for starters Pierre and Michael Smith as also Anthony Palomo.
“The guys played hard all year. They believed in me and I believed in them,” Reese said. “Whatever I asked of them, they usually did it. We just lost to a good team."
twaits@temple-telegram.com
