A few days after one of their more impressive victories of the season, little went right as the Bulldogs bowed out of the subsection playoffs on Tuesday, March 6, with a 71-31 loss at Annandale.On Friday, March 2, in their last regular season victory, the Bulldogs had beaten Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City (17-5) 50-43 for their fifth win of the winter season.
But on Tuesday, the #7 Bulldogs hardly challenged the #2 Cardinals. Coach Steve Little was disappointed in the Bulldogs' flat effort after playing so well a few days before.
Senior J.T. Koehn grabbed a rebound in Paynesville's last regular season game.
The Cardinals jumped on the Bulldogs from the start, taking a 14-5 lead after one quarter and 16-point lead after two. The Bulldogs managed only nine points in the first half.
The Bulldogs played Annandale at home in December in their third game of the season, and rallied well. In that game, the Cardinals took an early lead, but the Bulldogs cut the lead to four at the half and two at the end of the third quarter. Annandale outscored the Dogs by ten in the fourth quarter that time to win, 72-60.
This time, after dominating the first half, the host Cardinals kept it up in the second half, scoring 44 points to win by 40.
The Bulldogs found some scoring in the second half, putting up 22 points but their defense deserted them.
For the game, the Bulldogs shot just above 25 percent from the floor and barely made half their free throws. The Cardinals, on the other hand, made seven three-pointers and 80 percent of their free throws. Matt Totz led the Cardinals with 20 points, and Sam Dolan added 14, including four three-pointers.
J.T. Koehn led the Bulldogs with 11 points, five rebounds, and four blocks.
The Cardinals upset Litchfield in the subsection final on Saturday 53-49 to claim the subsection title.
The Bulldogs finished the season 5-18. They will have an end of the season banquet on Sunday, March 25, at 7 p.m. at Grace United Methodist Church.
| Paynesville-- | 5 | 4 | 12 | 10 | - 31 |
| Annandale-- | 14 | 13 | 19 | 25 | - 71 |
SCORING: (FG-FT/FTA-PTS)
Annandale 71 - Matt Totz 20; Sam Dolan 14; Aaron Weis 7; Paul Unger 6; Keith Stommes 5; Chris Picken 5; Jesse Provo 5; Lauren Cook 4; Greg Naaktgeboren 3; Nick Greve 2; TOTALS: FG 24, FT 16/20, 3's 7 Dolan 4, Naaktgeboren 1, Provo 1, Unger 1.
Paynesville 31 - J.T. Koehn 3-5/6-11; Aaron Lang 2-1/2-5; Logan Louis 2-0/1-4; Wes Lieser 1-1/2-3; T.J. Schultz 1-1/2-3; Kevin Mehr 1-0/1-2; Danny Savage 1-0/0-2; Davis Hoekstra 0-1/2-1; Andrew Jones 0-0/0-0; Adam Kampsen 0-0/0-0; TOTALS: FG 11/39, FT 9/16, 3's none.
STATISTICS: Rebounds - 19 Koehn 5; Assists - 3 Steals - 2 Blocks - 4 Koehn 4.