HoweEnterprise.com
January 9, 2023
Slumping Bulldogs have lost four straight, move to 0-3 in district play
Howe’s Jacob Campbell (33) puts up a layup at home against Bells Tuesday night. Photo by Michelle Carney. Howe (8-8, 0-3) returned to the scene of “Haley nailed it at the buzzer” from a year ago in Gunter. The game did once again come down to a final frenzy, but this time, Haley was not in position to pull the Jedi miracle out of his bag of tricks and Howe fell to 0-3 by losing to the Gunter Tigers 34-33.
Haley led Howe in points and rebounds with 12 and 10, respectively. Hoe shot 4-for-11 from the field and was 2-for-8 from behind the arc. Campbell chipped in 10 points on 4-of -19 shooting and 2-of-10 from 3-point territory. Other scorers were Noah Riley (6), and Cooper Jones (1).
Howe started the week by hosting Bells (15-3, 3-0) and ended up allowing more points (49) to any district opponent since Bells scored 50 on Howe a year ago at home in a 50-38 loss. But Howe was sitting at 8-8 a year ago after 16 games and 2-4 a year ago in mid-January but strung together 9-straight wins to sweep the back half of district play and clinch a playoff spot and win a playoff game for the first time since the 2004-05 season. If Howe is going to repeat the performance from a year ago, they are going to need to need more offensive output than just junior Jacob Campbell, who is averaging 19.2 points per game while next on the list is Haley’s 8.6 per game.
At Gunter, Campbell got in early foul trouble within minutes of the game which led him to the bench for virtually the entire first half. Without their leading scorer, Howe turned in only nine points in the first half and trailed Gunter 20-9 at intermission. But the Bulldogs dominated the second half with Campbell unleashed in the game as they went on a 24-14 run to finish the game. However, they couldn’t overcome the early deficit and lost 3433.
On Tuesday night at home, Howe found themselves down by three after the first period and only had seven points offensively. But things heated up in the second with Bells extending their lead by six to hold a 26-17 lead. But the Dogs were outscored 23-12 in the second half to take their second loss in district play.
Haley again was the leading scorer with 12 on 5-of-15 shooting from the field and totaled nine rebounds. Jones also ripped down nine rebounds to go along with his nine points. Campbell was held to only four points while Riley also chipped in four. Anthony Lowder scored three and Kaleb Taylor scored one. Howe will host Blue Ridge on Tuesday and travel to Leonard on Friday evening needing to win both games to keep the doors open for post season play.
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