The Quitman Bulldogs got back into the playoff hunt with a resounding 69-48 thumping of Lone Oak last Tuesday evening.

On the satisfaction of the win after two rough district losses the previous, Coach Jim Reid remarked, “We won every quarter, which we haven’t in quite a while.”

Quitman started fast.

Ben Burroughs, Jace Reid and Aiden Corrior began the Bulldog scoring, each hitting from three-point land early.

A Reid lay-in and a free throw by Chris Chabaud would give Quitman twelve to Lone Oak’s eleven points when the Bulldog press forced a Buffalo timeout.

More pressure would earn a turnover, leading to Trey Berry hitting a three from the corner off a Reid dish.

The Buffaloes returned the pressure favor, forcing a timeout to avoid a ten-second call.

Chabuad scored on a layup while drawing a foul to return to the charity stripe.

After several missed shots by Bulldogs, Reid scored, failed to convert a three point play, got his own rebound and missed put-back. He cashed in for three points from beyond the arc on the next possession.

Quitman led 25-15 after a quarter.

Opening the second period, Reid hit his third and fourth three-pointers on consecutive possessions. He would go 7 out of 11 on the night, leading all scorers with 29 points, adding 9 boards and 5 steals.

Chabaud faced a three-on-one fast break and stopped the Buffalo stampede from scoring.

With just 33.6 seconds remaining in the half, River Chaney drew a charge.

Quitman’s defensive prowess showed promise as the Bulldogs took a 40-26 lead into the locker room at the half.

“There are times we look lights out. Then there’s times we don’t look quite to our potential,” shared Coach Reid. He wants to limit those times they don’t reach their capacity to play.

The second half began much more raggedly than the first, with a couple buckets from Quitman off rebounds and plenty of turnovers through the first minutes of action.

After a timeout by Coach Reid and one set play resulting in a jump ball, Berry forced a turnover off the press and scored on his one man break. Berry stole the ball six times in the game and gave it away only once.

Berry scored on next possession with a midrange jumper in the paint, with an assist by Burroughs. Berry soon added a block to the scoresheet, and was officially feeling it. He would rack up 14 points in the game.

To close out the third Quitman inbounded, just avoided a backcourt violation and used the chaos to their advantage, with Tannebaum getting an open layup just before the buzzer, making it 54-35 after 24 minutes of action.

Tannebaum earned another layup with solid defense, forcing an errant pass which Reid grabbed and sent his way. After a Lone Oak timeout and turnover, Tannebaum hit a three, bringing his total to 7 points on the night, to go along with two assists and two steals.

Aiden Corrior scored 9 points on 4-7 from the field, contributed three assists, five rebounds and two steals.

Ben Burroughs scored 3 points, pulled down 6 rebounds and dished out 4 assists. Chris Chabaud had 4 points and snagged 4 rebounds and a steal. Rylie Flanagan registered 3 points, 4 rebounds and a steal.

With a bye Friday, Reid will coach the core of the game, fundamentals. “Halfway through district, we’re making some mistakes I think we can correct (…) shoring up some of our defensive rotations, fast break, running lanes, just continue to work the fundamentals.”

With just over four minutes remain, Quitman showed how well they can move the ball around the perimeter, getting a couple good looks, rebounds, and finally Flanagan drew a foul on a layup.

With a couple minutes remaining the bulldogs decided to lock-in for a minute-long defensive stand, hustling as if their lead was much less than the 24-point margin the scoreboard showed, denying Lone Oak several times before securing a board.

With the solid 21-point victory, the Bulldogs’ District 12-3A record goes to 2-4 and to 12-13 for the season. Coach Reid commented, “We have six games left, four at home. We can only go one at a time, let’s see what we do.”

After hosting Grand Saline Tuesday, the Bulldogs travel to Edgewood on Friday.