Peetz boys knock off rival Potter-Dix, 61-57

POTTER – Though it may not have ended as smoothly as they would have liked, the Peetz High Bulldogs’ withstood a tenacious late-comeback attempt by the Potter-Dix Coyotes to edge their cross-state rivals 61-57.

While perhaps deserving of a better fate after displaying a never-say-die attitude in their home gym, the Coyotes record fell to 5-13 while the Bulldogs advanced to 11-5.

With the two big men, Trevor Harms of Potter-Dix and Garrin Cox of Peetz, both playing well in a game-long dual in the middle, the difference may have been the shooting touch of the Bulldogs’ Casey Barrett. After missing a few early shots, the Peetz senior heated up in the second quarter to finish with a game-high 24 points, including six three pointers.

“For a while it seemed like I couldn’t hit anything and I started tonight by missing my first three,” Barrett said. “Coach just told me to think that they were going to go in and they started to fall.”

After Barrett landed a jumper with just a small portion of his big toe over the three-point line, the Bulldogs established their largest lead of the night at 59-44 with 4:12 left in the game. Just about then the Coyotes began to bite back.

Potter-Dix played the last several minutes of the game with a swarming full-court press that forced Peetz into turnovers and mistakes which the Coyotes repeatedly capitalized on.

Harms began the final 4:03 by hitting a turn-around jumper that was the start of a 13-2 run to finish the game. The Harms jumper was followed by a pair of Purcell baskets both assisted by Jake Johnson. Johnson, in fact, was the cause of several Bulldogs turnovers in the final minutes.

“Maybe we should have started with the press a little earlier, I don’t know,” Purcell said. “It always seems like we’re fighting to come back at the end of games. If we could just play better earlier maybe we wouldn’t find ourselves in so much trouble late.”

Freshman Logan Sircy was the only Bulldogs’ player to score in the final four minutes as he was true on a pair of attempts from the foul line. But Edward Barnes more than cancelled out Sircy’s work as he quickly followed with a shot from downtown. Though as Noah Nelson dropped in the final bucket, the Coyotes simply ran out of time.

“It’s not the way I would have liked to finish, but this may be a good thing in the long run,” said Bulldogs head coach Jim Gardiner. “We haven’t seen a press like that too often and it’s something we’re going to have to work on before districts.”

A late 3-pointer from Cameron Purcell and a pair of jumpers by Harms helped give the Coyotes the lead after eight minutes 12-10. Early on Harms and Cox showed each other they could hit jumpers as well as cause each other trouble inside. Cox took a feed from Bradey Holtz and hit from the foul line to answer Harms opening bucket of the night. Both continued to hit most of their shots throughout the game.

“I came out with a really positive attitude tonight and I think that helped me hit a few shots,” Cox said. “We’re all having a good time, but we’ve got to keep our noses to the grindstone and keep getting better.”

The second period marked the emergence of a red-hot Barrett. After scoring two points in the first quarter, he nailed four 3-pointers in the second on his way to a 14-point stanza. Holtz added another three for Peetz in the second that was answered by just a single trey by Barnes. When the halftime horn sounded, the Dogs held a 35-27 lead.

A 7-0 run started by a Barrett three ball highlighted the third quarter as the Bulldogs extended their advantage to 10 after 24 minutes, 48-38.

Cox backed up Barrett’s 24 points with 14 while Jordan Nelson finished with 10. Harms rang the twine for 18 points and Purcell 12 with Barnes netting eight.