Wyatt Robinson

The Harrisburg defense suppressed the Paris offense in the third quarter, allowing no made field goals while building an eight-point lead. The Coyotes turned the tables in the fourth, outscoring the Bulldogs 21-4 to leave Harrisburg with a 51-40 win.

“I thought the third quarter was probably our best defensive quarter of the year,” Harrisburg coach Kyle Fisher said.

“We guarded really well, we forced some turnovers, we held them to one shot and done.

“In the fourth quarter, we let up. It’s as simple as that. We didn’t have the same energy and commitment on the defensive end as what we had in the third quarter.”

Brayden Hudson

The Bulldogs started the second half on a 9-0 run. Lanes scored the first bucket of the half. Wyatt Robinson had a steal and score. Lanes canned a three and Jace Carr finished at the basket to put the Bulldogs ahead 36-28. Two free throws were the only offense that Paris could muster in the third quarter.

The Coyotes scored 15 points in a row before Jonah Sanford ended the run. Harrisburg had a chance to cut the gap to three with a layup by Carr, but he was whistled for a charge and Paris scored on the ensuing possession to go back up by seven.

The Coyotes went 7-7 at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to close out the game.

Sanford scored all four of Harrisburg’s points in the fourth quarter and finished with six.

Tanner Lanes scored 14 of his 19 points in the first half. Lanes had back-to-back baskets, including a 3-point play, to give Harrisburg a 20-16 lead. Anthony Alicea’s second 3-pointer of the game extended the lead to 23-16 before the Coyotes closed the half on a 10-2 run.

Harrisburg shot just 2-11 from the foul line.

The Bulldogs have lost a couple players from the rotation in recent weeks and the bench production has suffered.

“All year when we’ve won its been because of our depth and we’ve kind of worn teams out,” Fisher explained. “Our bench has been better than the other team’s bench. The last couple of weeks, that’s just not happening. We’ve got to find a way to get our bench going again and make sure that our depth becomes a strength for us.”

Harrisburg fell to 7-7 with the loss. The Bulldogs face Mexico in the first round of the Macon tournament on Tuesday.