Pair of perfect Bearden hoops records to begin the week: boys
Bearden boys 72 | Morristown West 38
BEARDEN — After Bearden High School’s boys’ basketball game at home Friday night, Dec. 1, Bulldogs’ sophomore point-guard Justin Nordin said the team’s goal was to hold Morristown West to under 50 points.
Mission accomplished — and pretty easily.
BHS scored the final nine points of the first quarter to lead 17-6 after one and never looked back. It was a resounding 72-38 Dawgs win that kept their record a perfect 8-0.
“We scrapped pretty hard when we were pushed and challenged,” Bearden head coach Jeremy Parrott said. “Kinda sloppy at times. I felt like we answered the bell on the physical end of it.”
After the 11-point difference at the end of one quarter, the closest West would get the rest of the game would be 21-16 with 2:44 left in the half.
The Dawgs promptly answered with nine straight points over two-and-a-half minutes to make it 30-16. Two free throws by West put the halftime score at 30-18.
If Morristown West had any hopes of staying in the game, they were gone midway through the third. An 8-1 Bearden run — six by Nordin — to open the period made it 39-19, and the rout was on.
The period ended with Bearden up a commanding 51-28.
“We struggled in the first half on being aggressive,” Nordin said. “Coach talked to us, and we locked in in the second half. We got offensive boards and pushed it on offense.”
“We had some streaks where we shot it well,” Parrott said. “For the most part it looked like an early-season game.
“We gave up too many offensive rebounds early, but holding a team to 38, that’s pretty good,” he added.
The Bulldogs’ offense didn’t let up in the final period. A 10-2 run to start the period made it 61-30, and Bearden cruised from there. Nine players scored for the winners.
“We’re deep,” Parrott said. “We still got football guys coming in.”
Nordin led all scorers with 25, while Sean Capshaw added 17 for Bearden.
Parrott had praise for Nordin. “We’re gonna depend on him a lot to do what he did tonight,” the coach said.
Bereket Evans was high for the Trojans with 14 points.
“Bearden’s a very good basketball team,” Trojans head coach Joe Dobyns said. “I was proud of my guys for continuing to fight.“
