Bulldogs stay close in loss to Salado
SALADO — The Burnet High School boys basketball team’s winning streak came to an end Jan. 21 with a 65-55 loss to Salado.
The Bulldogs (2-1) suffered their first loss in District 25-3A play.
Senior forward Grant Cole paced Burnet with 21 points, including four three-pointers.
Caden Connolly and Nick Melvin added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
"Everyone knows Grant Cole can score, so we have to have some other guys contribute offensively," head coach Roy Kiser said. "We have gotten some offense from Nick Melvin, Caden Connolly and Jacob Pollard."
Salado took a 20-17 lead at the end of the first quarter and built it to 37-31 by the half.
"We played a little better defense in the first half than we did in the second," Kiser said. "Offensively, we executed much better early in the game, so we were able to compete."
But the Eagles broke open the game in the third period, dropping in 13 points and only allowing four for a 50-35 advantage.
The Bulldogs skipper said the woes in the third stanza came down to basic defense.
"We really stopped playing fundamental defense in the third quarter and gave up way too many easy baskets," he said.
To their credit, the Bulldogs made an effort to get back in the contest and outscored Salado 20-12 in the final eight minutes.
Kiser said coaches emphasized the need to return to how they played in the first half.
"We just tried to urge them to compete and play better defense," he said. "For part of that time we did, and we were able to cut a 15-point deficit to four and missed a layup and a three-point opportunity to get within one or two."
Ultimately, the coach said he is looking for players to contribute offensively.
"All of our guys need to look for their shots to take some of the burden off of Grant," he said.
Burnet will play at 8 p.m. Jan. 25 at Liberty Hill, 13125 Texas 29.