Flu and injuries wrecked the Bulldogs last week

Even if all hands were on deck last week for the Harrisburg boys basketball team it was going to be a tough row to hoe for the Bulldogs, but with injuries and the flu causing four players to either be absent or less than 100% physically Harrisburg lost two of the three games.

“Sickness has hit our school really, really hard,” said Harrisburg coach Andy Fehrenbacher. “The flu is still lingering a little bit, but not as bad as last week. A little turbulence right now, but hopefully we can get through it and regroup and get ready for the last couple weeks.”

The Bulldogs started last week on a four-game winning streak and a 15-4 record with Hamilton County (16-5) coming to Davenport Gym and despite missing one of the leading scorers Cayden Young to a knee injury and Reed Rider and Adrian Mann sidelined with the flu, the remaining two starters and a combination of five reserves played well enough to beat the Foxes, 50-43.

“Hamilton County was a challenge for us,” Fehrenbacher said. “Hamilton County is not a bad team and we were without three starters, so we had to dig deep in the bench and a few kids had to play a lot more than usual at the varsity level. I was proud the way our guys battled that game. To be that depleted and still come away with a win that shows a lot about our team. Down the stretch we’re going to need the bench guys.”

Sophomore Braxton Murphy, who is usually the first player off the bench, started the game in the place Young and got off to a great start with a 3-point basket to jump-start the Bulldogs.

“This week was really good for Braxton Murphy,” Fehrenbacher said. “He found his shot and started making some buckets. He had two three’s in the Hamilton County game, but then he really picked it up in both the Murphy game and Union County.”

Senior Jalon Ellis, who is the other leading scorer, kept the opening rally going with a layup while being fouled 20 seconds later, but missed the free throw to leave the Bulldogs up 5-0 less than a minute into the game.

Hamilton County rallied back with an 11-2 run to take an 11-7 lead with about two minutes left, but senior Owen Rann, the other starter that was able to play, scored on a putback before Ellis picked up a loose ball and scored and followed with a jumper with two seconds left to give Harrisburg a 13-11 lead heading into the second quarter.

Ellis opened the second quarter at the line and made both free throws and after three Fox fouls wrapped around a Bulldog one, Ellis scored again before junior Brenden Davis, who was starting in place of Rider at forward, was fouled and made both free throws to up the lead to 19-11 with 3:57 remaining in the half.

“Brenden Davis has started to play a little bit more off the bench for us,” Fehrenbacher said. “He played a little bit in the Carmi Tournament, but before Hamilton County he hadn’t played much varsity. He rebounded fairly well and defended really well. He guarded Ethan Kessler and held him under his average. So I was very happy with Brenden. Now his minutes will be increasing.”

After the Foxes scored on two free throws, sophomore Nash Vallette, who was brought up from the JV squad, sank a 3-pointer to up Harrisburg’s lead to nine points with three minutes remaining.

However, the Foxes closed out the first half scoring the last four points to cut the lead to two and the first two points of the third quarter to tie the score. Davis then scored on a rebound while being fouled and made the free throw to regain the lead.

The Foxes took the lead again on two baskets, but an Ellis layup followed by another Murphy 3-pointer and two more Davis free throws got the lead back to six with 5:45 left in the third quarter.

With two minutes remaining Hamilton County went on a 9-2 run to take the lead again, 35-34. Ellis scored 15 seconds later to give the Bulldogs a 36-35 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Rann opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer to extend the lead. Ellis followed with a steal and a layup followed by senior Chandler Questelle, who was starting at guard in place of Mann, scored from the lane to give the Bulldogs an eight-point lead.

After the Foxes cut the lead to six, Ellis stole the ball again and scored to regain the eight-point lead. The closest Hamilton County got the rest of the game was six points.

Ellis led the Bulldogs with 22 points followed by a season-high nine points from Davis, six from Rann and Murphy, three from Vallette, and two each from Questelle and freshman Quest Weatherington.

The next day the Bulldogs traveled to Murphysboro for a makeup SIRR-Ohio Division game from the ice storm with Rider and Mann returning to the starting lineup while still being less than 100%.

After Murphysboro (18-4, 4-1 Ohio) took the early lead when Myles Guthman split a pair of free throws, Rider made his presence felt scoring on a rebound, but that would be the last time Harrisburg would lead.

“I’m not making excuses and we show up with who we have, but we were not in very good shape against Murphysboro,” Fehrenbacher said. “This was a makeup game scheduled for two weeks ago and it just so happened that was horrible timing for us, especially with us playing the night before. That’s the way it goes sometimes. You just have to get up, dust yourself off and go again.”

The Red Devils closed out the first quarter on a 17-8 run to take an 18-10 lead into the second quarter. The Bulldogs fought tooth-and-nail in the second quarter, but couldn’t make any headway shooting making just 4-of-11 shots, including 1-of-4 from the 3-point line, losing a point to trail by nine at the half.

Despite making 3-of-5 from the perimeter, the Bulldogs only gained a point in the third quarter to trail by eight heading into the fourth quarter where the Red Devils finally wore down the Bulldogs to win by 13, 61-48.

“When you are not at a 100% we were a step or two slow all night long,” Fehrenbacher said. “Slow on boards, slow on rotation, slow everywhere.”

Ellis again led the Bulldogs with 19 points with Murphy scoring a career-high 15 points, including tying his career-high of three from beyond the arc. Rounding out the scoring was Rann with six, Rider four, and two each from Questelle and Mann.

Saturday afternoon the Bulldogs traveled the 35 miles to Morganfield, Kentucky to play Union County High School (9-6) with another player not being able to play when senior reserve center Dalton Brimm sat out with an ankle injury.

“Union County is really good and very athletic,” Fehrenbacher said. “They have one kid that is definitely a Division 1 kid and possibly a second. Saturday they were clicking and shot extremely well. They are on another level. We were still without Cayden. He and Jalon are our 1-2 punch and when you take one away it makes it kind of tough. But it was a good experience for our kids to play against that type of a team and that will do us good.”

The Braves jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back extending their lead to 13-2 midway through the first quarter and taking a 15-10 lead into the second quarter.

After the Braves extended their lead to eight on a 3-pointer to open the second quarter, Ellis scored on a layup and Rann scored on a three-point play on a contested layup and the free throw to cut the lead to three, but the Braves rallied again closing out the half on a 14-2 run to take a 32-17 lead at the half.

“We really struggled in the first half — we just couldn’t score at all,” Fehrenbacher said. “We had a hard, hard time.”

Union County extended its lead to 26 points by the end of the third quarter, 61-35. Behind 10 points by Ellis, who again led the Bulldogs with 22 points, and seven points each from Murphy and Rann, Harrisburg outscored Union County, 28-17, to pare down the final margin to 15, 78-63.

“We got going in the second half and we erupted in the fourth quarter,” Fehrenbacher said.

Rann finished with 19 points. Murphy, who started all three games last week, scored 13 to finish with an 11.3 scoring average for the week. Rider scored six and Mann one to round out the scoring.

This week will be a busy one for the Bulldogs (16-7, 2-2 Ohio) with three games on tap beginning with hosting Benton (20-2) Tuesday night and hosting Anna-Jonesboro (10-12) Wednesday for the makeup game from the ice storm. The weekends Friday night at Massac County (9-11, 0-4 Ohio).

“We’re really hopeful that Cayden at some point will be back with us this week,” Fehrenbacher said. “The trainer is happy with his progress from his knee sprain. The swelling has gone down and he’s moving a lot better. He’s actually getting some workouts in and getting shots up. He’s pivoting and moving on his knee the way he should, so I’m optimistic.”