The Christian County Colonels began play in the Poplar Bluff Showdown in Missouri on Thursday, scoring only 10 second-half points on the way to a 74-34 loss to Fayetteville High School. The Bulldogs from Arkansas improve to 8-2 overall, while the Colonels drop to 4-6.
The Colonels hung tough in the first quarter, despite 10 points from the Bulldogs’ Tamaury Releford, and only trailed by 4. However, Fayetteville began to pull away in the second, using 11 more points from Releford to outscore the Colonels 21-10 and take a 15-point lead into halftime.
The third quarter was identical to the second, with the Bulldogs tacking on 11 points to the advantage to lead 60-34. The Colonels went scoreless over the final 8 minutes, suffering their worst loss of the year at 74-34.
Releford sat out the fourth quarter, but still finished with 25 to lead all scorers. For Christian County, Fred Tandy and Stephon Bussell each had 9, followed by Eric Brody with 7.
The Colonels will be back on the court tomorrow against the loser of tonight’s game between Poplar Bluff (MO) and Memphis Central.