Bowie vs Akins

February 15, the Akins Eagles finish district play with wins against district leader Austin High and tonight against the Bowie Bulldogs. 

Tonight's game was being televised on 1525 KBVO and was huge for both teams, the winner would represent the district as the second place team giving them an easier start in the first round of the playoffs. 

The Bulldogs started the game with Paul Baxter hitting a 3 and on the next positions Jacob Varela hits another 3 pointer, and it looked like the Bulldogs were going to be on tonight.  Unfortunately for the Bulldogs that was all the scoring for both Baxter and Varela until somewhere in the third quarter.

The first half was a defensive battle Yolanzo Moore had a tough assignment having to guard the explosive Bowie guard Paul Baxter but he was up to the challenge holding Baxter to only 3 points in the first half.  The other match up would be against Connor Robinson who scored 37 in the first meeting between these two teams.  The 6'3" guard Malcolm Canada (pictured) would be handed the assignment and did a good job early in the game.  However, he picked up his second foul in the first half and was replaced by 6'3" sophomore Lionel Hollins putting this underclassman in a difficult situation and in a very big game.

The third was a huge quarter for the Bulldogs, they began to work the ball inside to Robinson and found themselves with a two point lead 36 to 34 at the start of the fourth.  Bowie continued to work the ball inside, but the Eagles made some adjustments and began to double and triple team Robinson making it difficult for him to score.  At this point the Bulldogs shooters went cold and just could not buy a bucket.  So with Robinson being doubled down low and the Bulldogs peremiter shooting gone the Bulldogs just could not keep pace with the Eagles.  Malcolm Canada began to take over offensively in the fourth scoring three times down the court in what looked like replays of the previous shot.

The big surprise in this game was the offensive play of 5'9" guard Anthony Rivera who lead the Eagles scoring with 21 points.  Before this game Rivera was averaging a solid 12 points per game but with the defense focusing on Moore and Canada things opened up for Rivera and he came through. 

Good luck to both teams in the playoffs we wish them both well.

Akins 59, Bowie 49

	1	2	3	4	OT	T
Akins	12	14	8	25	—	59
Bowie	10	12	14	13	—	49

AHS: Richardson 3, P.Rivera 4, Hollins 8, Moore 9, Canada 14, A.Rivera 21
BHS: Varela 3, O'Reilly 4, Isom 4, Jefferson 6, Baxter 7, Robinson 25
Records: B: 25-6 6-4, A: 23-9 7-3.