Trinity knocks off Huskies in first round action
Last modified: Feb. 28
Jesse Campbell
TRINITY — Ashe County failed to defend a tenacious perimeter attack and fell on the road to the Trinity Bulldogs 75-33 in first round action of the 2-A state playoffs Monday night.
The Bulldogs, of the PAC-6 conference, scorched the nets in the first half by making eight 3-pointers to take a 41-23 lead at halftime.
Trinity jumped out to a 17-10 lead through the first frame of action.
David Newcomer paced the Bulldogs with four 3-pointers in the first half and two other jump shots just inside the arc. He led the Bulldogs with 30 points.
Trinity had a total of seven 3-pointers through the first 16 minutes of action.
Ashe Country tried to keep the game close early on when Jordan Spell trimmed the Bulldogs’ lead back to five late in the first quarter with a long 3-pointer.
Sophomore Connor Bowers, who was moved up from the jayvee team this week for the playoff match-up, notched the Huskies first field goal of the game. He received the start Monday night.
Senior Anderson Moore added a basket in the first quarter for the Huskies.
Eli Gambill began to warm up for the Huskies in the second quarter by making nailing three baskets, but it would not be enough to keep pace with Trinity’s outside game that jettisoned the Bulldogs to a double-digit advantage.
Gambill led all scorers for the Huskies with 12 points.
After shooting well over the 50 percent mark in the first half, Ashe went ice cold in the third quarter. The Bulldogs outscored the Huskies 23-4 in the frame to extend its lead 64-27 heading into the fourth.
Cullen Ashley provided the only scoring for the Huskies in the third.
The Huskies did not fare much better in the fourth quarter, scoring only six points while Trinity added 11 more to scoreboard.
An old fashioned 3-point play by Gambill in the fourth quarter broke the Huskies scoring. Spell added another basket and Seth Sheets hit a free throw to round out the scoring for the Huskies in the fourth quarter.
In other 2-A first round action from the Mountain Valley Conference, Wilkes Central knocked off East Davidson 64-48, and Piedmont blasted Starmount 66-36.
In regional 1-A action, Elkin, who won the MVC Regular Season Championship, fell 72-50 against East Surry, North Wilkes defeated Blue Ridge 69-38 and West Wilkes knocked off Hiwassee Dam 91-73.