The New Waverly boys had to work a lot harder Tuesday, but when the buzzer sounded, the Bulldogs came out with the same result: an impressive victory over a state-ranked team.
A day after beating Leggett 99-43, the Bulldogs outlasted Kountze 75-71 on Tuesday night in Kountze.
Jarvice Sykes scored 26 points Tuesday, Joseph Carrington and Alex Brown added 10 points each and Sir. Horace Saulsberry threw in eight points for the state’s seventh-ranked Bulldogs. Xzavious Harrison scored four points and Kyren Watts had three.
“After we opened up a 12-point lead in the third quarter, Kountze made a strong run in the fourth quarter,” Bulldogs coach Bill Goffney said. “They tied it up, then took a two-point lead. Joseph came down and hit a big 3 that put us up by one, then Kountze had two turnovers in a row and we got up by five.”
According to Goffney, Tyren Watts and Brown forced the fourth-quarter turnovers that helped New Waverly regain a comfortable lead. Goffney said the Bulldogs have given two solid efforts so far. They’ll need another one next week when they travel to Montgomery to take on the Class 4A Bears.
“I’m pleased to be 2-0 against two ranked teams. Leggett is ranked (17th) in Class 1A and Kountze is ranked (eighth) in 3A,” Goffney said. “We have played with a lot of intensity. We’ve got to fix some little stuff, but so far I’ve been very pleased with our intensity.
“We’ll come back Monday and get after Montgomery.”
