Bullard repeats as champion of Athens Invitational

Published 12:02 am Sunday, December 4, 2022

ATHENS — Bullard won the Athens Invitational for the second consecutive year with a 54-41 victory over Canton on Saturday night at the Athens High School Arena.

It was the third straight time that Bullard head coach Dean Nuckolls has won the event.

Nuckolls was the head coach of LaPoynor when the Flyers defeated Midland Greenwood 62-55 in the 2019 championship game of the event. Garrett Nuckolls scored six points in that game as a freshman.

There wasn’t an Athens Invitational in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Then in 2021, with Dean Nuckolls at Bullard, the Panthers took a 60-54 win over LaPoynor in the championship game. Garrett Nuckolls had 16 points in that game.

Garrett Nuckolls had 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists on Saturday to earn his 100th career victory as a high school player.

While the Panthers are a force offensively, scoring 101 points in the season opener and positing games of 91 and 81 points recently, it’s the defense that the Bullard head coach said has been the difference.

“We’re coming together and finding our identity,” Coach Nuckolls said. “And to be honest with you, I think it’s on the defensive end. I know people have seen us put up a lot of points, and we’ve done that. We’ve got multiple guys that can put the ball in the hole. But I think you can see that we’re holding people to a little bit lower scores than what they’re usually scoring. Their shooting a little worse percentage against us than what they’re usually shooting. I really feel like our defense is becoming our identity.”

Entering Saturday, Bullard was holding opponents to fewer than 45 points per game and Canton was scoring nearly 59 points per game. Bullard held the Eagles to 41 points. Senior guard Chantson Prox was not with the Eagles on Saturday.

Canton jumped out to a 10-4 lead before Bullard ended the quarter on a 12-0 run as Owen Thompson and Nuckolls both hit 3-pointers in the final minute. With the clock winding down, Nuckolls dribbled to the right side of the court and went up for a shot. Canton’s Jaden Pickerill knocked the ball out of Nuckolls’ hands. Nuckolls retrieved the ball and launched from even farther behind the 3-point line to sink the buzzer-beating shot, giving the Panthers a 16-10 lead.

Canton opened the second quarter with a triple by Garrett Walker. Bullard responded with a 7-0 run before Canton went on its own 7-0 run as Pickerill hit two threes to cut the score to 23-20.

A triple by Nuckolls and then a layup by Jeffery Brooks in the final seconds sent Bullard into halftime with a 28-20 lead.

Nuckolls connected from downtown again to open the third quarter to push the lead to double figures. After a Cason Bell trey cut the score to 31-25, Brooks had a 3-point play, Nuckolls hit a 3-pointer and then Brooks found a cutting Nuckolls down the middle for a dunk to get the lead to 14. Bullard led 44-32 after three quarters and led by at least seven throughout the fourth quarter.

Brooks had 17 points for Bullard (12-2).

Walker led Canton with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Other scorers for Bullard were Thompson 5; Layne Alexander 5; Gage Nuckolls 3; and Bryce Brannen 2.

Other scorers for Canton were Pickerill8; Bell 7; Rex Baldwin 5; Layne Etheridge 3; and Jaxon Rhyne 2.

In the girls championship game, Class 3A No. 1 Fairfield, which won the Class 3A state championship against Winnsboro in 2022, took a 64-21 win over Class 2A No. 13 LaPoynor.

Avery Thaler had 12 of her game-high 20 points in the first quarter for the Lady Eagles. She also had five steals. Freshman Blayke Brackens had 11 points, eight rebounds and five steals, and freshman Kaylee Williams had 10 points and six rebounds.

McKinna Brackens and Shadasia Brackens are on the cover of Dave Campbell’s Texas Basketball Magazine. McKinna had 6 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and four steals, Shadasia added 9 points and five steals.

Other scorers for Fairfield were Jimilyah Nash 5; Kristavia Nelms 2; and Jacia Abram 1. Abram also had eight rebounds.

Kitty Eldridge had 6 points, 10 rebounds and seven steals for LaPoynor. Kendall Garcia and Adrianna Estrada each scored 4 points. Payton Maze, T’Mia Mitchell and Savannah Reynolds all had 2 points, and Bre Howard added 1 point.

Fairfield jumped out to an 8-0 lead and led 19-11 after the first quarter. Fairfield opened the second quarter on a 13-0 run and held LaPoynor without a field goal in the second quarter, leading 32-12 at halftime. Fairfield led 51-16 after three quarters.

In the boys third-place game, host Athens led Palestine 35-16 with 2:35 left in the second quarter. Palestine outscored Athens 44-15 the rest of the way to win 60-50.

With the score tied at 6-6 in the first quarter, Athens went on a 13-0 run and led 19-8 at the end of the first quarter. Athens opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run and eventually went up 35-16 after a layup from Jase Warren.

Palestine ended the half on a 7-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Carlton Wiggins, to cut the score to 35-23 at halftime.

After a quick bucket by Athens’ Eli Perkins to start the third quarter, Palestine responded with a 13-0 run to cut the deficit to one.

Athens led 40-39 entering the fourth quarter. Wiggins opened the fourth with a triple to put the Wildcats in front, but Jaden Crane had a pullup jumper to answer for the Hornets to tie the score at 42.

Wiggins then hit a 3 and Kmari Gipson got a layup to make the score 47-42. With the score at 47-46, Palestine outscored Athens 13-4 to put the game away.

Gipson led Palestine with 18 points. Gerlle Abrams had 14 points and 16 rebounds. Wiggins had 11 points for Palestine. Other scorers for the Wildcats were Taj’Shawn Wilson 6; Jon Denman 4; Perry Cole 4; and Devin Clewis 3.

Wilson, who hit a game-winning buzzer-beater against Tyler on Nov. 22, also had eight rebounds and four assists.

Crane and Jorien Ray each had 10 points for Athens. Warren scored 8 points. Perkins and Jamarion Williams each had 7 points. Seth Red had 6 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Jermarius Moore added 2 points and seven assists.

LaPoynor’s Bre Howard won the girls’ 3-point shootout with 12 makes in one minute. Lindale’s Carter Davis and Tuluso-Midway’s JD Martinez shared the boys’ 3-point shootout title each with 11 makes in one minute.