Senath-Hornersville defeats Gideon on Bulldog senior night

GIDEON, Mo. - There was no mercy here Tuesday at the Bulldogs' Senior Night basketball game.

The Senath-Hornersville Lions (11-11) took down the Bulldogs (7-16) 77-54 in a contest in which the score did not reflect either teams' serious athleticism.

That said, the two high scorers for each squad were separated by just two points.

The Lions' Noah Rhodes was deadly from the outside and dropped an incredible eight threes and one bucket for 26 points.

His Bulldog counterpart Drake Montgomery tossed three tres, six two-point shots and three foul shots to total 24 points.

Senath-Hornersville head coach Kyle Moore, in his debut season leading the Lions, said he was satisfied with his team's performance.

“We put together a full game,” Moore said. “Our kids stuck to the plan and we're happy with the result.”

The Lions outplayed the Bulldogs, outscored Gideon and took advantage of nearly every Bulldog misstep.

Senath-Hornersville was on top at the end of the first quarter 14-8 and led Gideon by two buckets 29-25 at the half.

Gideon's Hayden Lacewell (0) moves the ball down court during a home game against Senath-Hornersville Tuesday.Photo by Steve Hankins

The Lions dominated the third quarter, which found the squad up by 24 points over the Bulldogs, 56-32. The Lions scored 27 in the third and held the Gideon team to just seven points the entire period. The final quarter belonged to Gideon, and the Bulldogs added 22 to outscore the Lions by only a free throw.

“First half we played 'em tough,” said Bulldogs head coach Keenan Buchanan. “I was really proud of our kids.

“Then second half, when you give up 27 points in the third quarter, it's difficult to overcome that,” he added. “We struggled with that all year. We've been in a lot of close games the first half against pretty good teams and then the third quarters just killed us.”

Buchanan emphasized his young team has plenty of talent, and just as many frayed nerves.

“I gotta figure out how to fix that real quick,” Buchanan said. “We've had a good schedule.

“We hosted the Bulldog Classic of course,” the coach recalled. “We played the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament and played Richland and Bloomfield in between that. We've got a tough schedule for a 1-A school. Hopefully, we'll get better and continue to compete.”

The Lions starters were Christian “Pookie” Garza who scored seven, Gerry Castillo with five, Mason Williams with eight, Amador Luna dropped 12 and Rhodes with 26. Cade Sawyer contributed four points and Spencer Goff scored nine. Jackson Bishop added six to round out the Lions evening.

Gideon started Brayden Knapp who scored six points, Landon Weaver, Alex Deprow who dropped 10, Skyler Hewitt who scored a goal, and Montgomery with 24. Hayden Lacewell was in for seven. Drake Grissom scored a free-throw for a point and Aaron Ochoa hit two goals for four points.