After his team lost to Apalachee back on Jan. 9, Winder-Barrow High School coach Eli Connell couldn’t shake the defeat from his mind.
It ate away at him. All he could do was look at the calendar for the next meeting.
As game week arrived for the rematch, however, the Bulldogg coach decided to downplay the contest to his players somewhat. Connell focused instead on Friday’s game with Madison County, which WBHS also won.
By the time Saturday’s game with Apalachee arrived, Connell’s Bulldoggs were set to play one of their better games, especially defensively all season. The end result was a 52-29 win against their cross county and subregion rival.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Connell said after the win. “I feel better now.”
The 67-60 score from the previous game had been posted inside the Winder-Barrow locker room since the Jan. 9 meeting.
Saturday’s win improved the Bulldoggs to 17-6 overall and 7-1 in subregion play.
“I hate being the favorite in this game,” Connell said. “I would much rather be the underdog.”
“It’s always great to beat our rival,” said WBHS player Shun Thurmond, who finished with nine points.
Thurmond, who has been one of the key players for the Bulldoggs throughout the 2008-09 season, credited teammate Jodd Maxey for his defensive effort against Apalachee standout Chaun Greshman.
Maxey also led all scorers with 19 points. Troy Baker and D.J. Butler both added seven points for WBHS. Butler also had seven rebounds, three steals and an assist.
Alonzo Nelson finished with six points for the Bulldoggs.
For Apalachee, a slow start hurt the Wildcats’ chances of taking the regular season swept. AHS fell behind 15-2 in the first quarter and never led in the contest.
Greshman was the leading scorer for Kevin Morris’ team with 11. Dillon Moon was the next leading scorer with five.
“Winder Barrow played very well,” the AHS coach said. “They are very talented. I don’t know if they are as good as we made them look but we turned it over way too many times.”
Morris said Winder-Barrow’s size is very difficult to overcome.
“At our place they pressed us a good bit and we beat them down the court,” the coach said. “This time they just went straight man-to-man and didn’t do anything fancy. We are better than we showed and it doesn’t help when your best player fouls out early in the fourth quarter.”
Falling behind early also did not help his team’s cause.
“You are constanly climbing uphill,” the AHS coach said. “When you spot a team as good as they are that many points, it is almost impossible to come back.”
