Bulldogs' season comes to an end with 71-60 loss to James Logan

Speed, quickness and athleticism can be the difference in basketball games between similar teams. In the quarterfinals of the CIF Division I Northern California playoffs Thursday night, James Logan featured quickness that gave Folsom all kinds of trouble at both ends of the floor, as Folsom's season came to an end in a 71-60 loss. Like in the game against Modesto Christian in the Sac-Joaquin Section semi-finals, Folsom needed to shoot well to have a chance to beat the top-seeded Colts, and they didn't. On top of a poor shooting night, turnovers plagued the Bulldogs, who only had 33 points through three quarters of play. "We were terrible offensively," Folsom coach Mike Wall said. "They were quick, and that made us rush. We let them make us go faster than we wanted to and we just had so many turnovers. We didn't shoot well; we missed a lot of shots close inside and also missed too many free throws." The Bulldogs were only down by seven at halftime, 33-26. Had James Logan luckily not banked in two three-pointers, it would have been a one-point game. As Wall quickly pointed out, "It doesn't change the fact that we can't shoot free throws." Folsom made only 7-of-15 in the first half and 14-of-24 for the game (58 percent). Meanwhile, the Colts made three more free throws than the Bulldogs in three less attempts (17-for-21, 80 percent). Folsom had a perfect start to the game, executing their defensive game plan perfectly while taking an early 6-0 lead and forcing James Logan to call a timeout. From there, however, the Colts hit a three, converted a couple and-one transition layups and scored off an offensive rebound and before long Folsom was down 17-11 by the end of the first quarter. The Bulldogs trailed by as many as 14 points in the second quarter and never got closer than seven points to the lead the rest of the game. Folsom entered the game committed to stopping James Logan's top two scorers, guards Brett Thompson and Brahjon Thompson. Brett finished with 14 points, while Brahjon scored 21, but it was the contributions of the secondary scorers that hurt the Bulldogs. Forwards Gabriel Hawkins (14 points) and Malcolm Steadman (10 points) stepped up, as did Tim Oldham off the bench (10 points). "We gave those guys way too much," Wall admitted. Jalen Scott led the Bulldogs with 18 points. After being held off the score sheet in the first half, DeShawn Lynch finished the game with 11 points, while Tiler Fears scored 10. Cameron Wall added seven points, while Dylan Davis knocked down two threes in the fourth quarter to finish with six.