Paynesville came into the game very optimistic because of last year’s competition. Long Prairie-Grey Eagle was also State Class AA runner-up last year.
In the first quarter, the Thunder lit up the gym. It seemed as though they could not miss. It stayed that way through the rest of the half.
Paynesville on the other hand had trouble buying a basket. The ice just would not break.
At halftime the Bulldogs were down by 17 points.
It was very difficult to battle back after being down by so many points but Paynesville did just that until the very end.
By the time the fourth quarter came around it seemed as though the game was pretty much over for Paynesville. They battled as hard as they could for the first few minutes, and then the subs came in.
However the Thunder did not see it necessary to put the nonstarters in the game.
Paynesville ended up losing this one by a score of 60-45.
Litchfield
On Tuesday, Jan. 19, the Paynesville boys basketball team traveled to Litchfield to take on the third-ranked team in class AAA.
Paynesville had high hopes for the game, but the Dragons had other plans.
In the first quarter Paynesville only scored three points. Everyone could not believe how good Litchfield was.
As in the first quarter, the Bulldogs didn’t score many points in the second, and were very frustrated, with two technical fouls being called on Paynesville.
The third quarter left the Bulldogs still kicking but getting nowhere with Litchfield outscoring them by 12 points.
In the fourth quarter there were 36 free throws. It seemed like this game would never be over.
Litchfield’s defense served as their offense in this game. They would steal the ball and score a layup repeatedly.
On the brighter side most teams have lost to this Dragon team by quite a few points, and the Bulldogs did no different.
PHS : 3 5 11 15 - 34
Litchfield: 21 14 23 18 - 75