The two weekend games for Athens told a tale of two completely different games.
On Friday, which was Senior Night, Athens took home a 75-47 win over Nelsonville-York. But Saturday night, the Bulldogs played Marietta and lost 69-59.
The biggest difference between the two games for the Bulldogs were the 23 turnovers Saturday, compared to just six on Friday.
“Turn the ball over, and you lose games,” coach Mickey Cozart said.
Marietta played a physical game, trapping Athens and forcing those 23 turnovers.
The Bulldogs drew 19 fouls, but when a foul wasn’t called, they couldn’t make shots through contact.
“We still have to make shots,” Cozart said. “We have to fight through that.”
Friday, a night the Bulldogs celebrated its seniors, Athens played with a lot of energy. The high energy showed on the stat sheet with seven blocks. Athens hadn’t recorded that many blocks in a game since an overtime game against Fairland.
Griffin Lutz scored 23 points and had six steals.
“We were pretty amped up,” Cozart said. “Our guys were jumping out of the gym.”
The two games wrapped up the regular season, and will now prepare to play Sheridan on Feb. 24.
Even though his team struggled in its final game of the regular season and has struggled for most of the season against teams outside of the Tri-Valley Conference, Cozart said he is not concerned about the state of his team.
Aside from losing the game Saturday, the Bulldogs may have lost one of their key bench players,Logan Maxfield.
He dislocated his shoulder, and Cozart said Maxfield’s status is uncertain.
The Bulldogs will need their bench to perform well so they can be the team that won big Friday night rather than the team that lost Saturday.
