Brighton Beats Prairie View

By Matt Langley

Langleyscouting.blogspot.com

1/11/2013

Brighton, CO –With a minute left in the fourth quarter, the Brighton student section filled the gym with chants of “This is our House!” as the Brighton Bulldogs (5-9) defeated their cross town rival the Prairie View Thunderhawks (4-9) at Brighton High School on Friday night. The Thunderhawks had beaten the Bulldogs in their final game before the Holiday break, but this time it would a different story. The near capacity crowd witnessed a game filled with intensity and emotion only a rivalry game such as this can produce. The Thunderhawks would grab an early lead, but the Bulldogs would catch fire in the second half to earn the 19-point victory.

            Each team tried to control itself in the first quarter dealing with big game jitters and adrenaline. Brighton could pass the ball easily around Prairie View’s zone defense but missed shots and fumbled balls were big issues for the Bulldogs.  The Bulldogs managed to keep the score close and take a 9-8 lead with a minute left in the quarter after senior guard Ethan Trujillo made two free throws, but Thunderhawk sophomore Luke Schwindaman nailed a three pointer in the closing seconds of the first quarter to give Prairie View a 13-9 lead.

            Schwindaman was the story of the second quarter. The sophomore guard was two of two from behind the three-point arch and scored ten points in the quarter while pushing the Thunderhawks’ lead to 9 points.  While Schwindaman was making deep threes, Bulldogs senior guard Colin Taber was trying to lead Brighton back into the game scoring 7 points and chipping away at the Thunderhawks’ lead.  In the final three minutes of the quarter, Brighton had three turnovers and three missed shots but was able to score four points in the final minute to cut into the Prairie View lead and trailed 24-19 at halftime.

            Brighton was a buzz saw in the third quarter. The Bulldogs started the quarter out on 21-4 run. Instead of being in a passive zone defense, the Bulldogs started attacking out of their zone defense.  The trapping zone created loose balls, steals, and would not allow the Thunderhawks to be comfortable on offense only scoring nine points in the quarter. Senior guard Michael Goward was the source of Prairie View’s frustrations as his long arms and quick hands deflected and stole multiple balls leading to easy baskets for the Bulldogs. Five different Brighton players made a three point shot in the quarter. Bulldog junior forward Michael Willis had 7 points as did Taber who made his three pointer as time ran out in the quarter to give the Bulldogs a 48-33 lead.

            The Thunderhawks managed to score only 11 points in the fourth quarter becoming frustrated by a quick defense, poor shooting, and turnovers. Brighton cooled off offensively, scoring 15 points in the quarter. Even though the Bulldogs were not as hot and crisp as they had been in the third quarter, they were able to keep the Thunderhawks from mounting any serious attempts at a come back.

Schwindaman was the only Thunderhawk in double figures but lead all scorers with 22 points. Taber led the Bulldogs with 16 points and Willis added 14. These two teams will face each other again for the third and final time this season with bragging rights and possibly a spot in the state tournament at stake on February 8^th at Prairie View High School.