The 2018/19 season began for the club's first team with a visit to face Second Division Clacton Cannons in a Suffolk Cup Pool Game.
Bulldogs started brightly on a 9-0 run fuelled by great team defence, and Lewis Tebbit on offence, but the Cannons fought-back to end the quarter down 15-22. Defensive and lineup adjustments followed to start the second quarter, which Bulldogs dominated 9-42, en route to a commanding 24-64 half-time lead. The Cannons started the third brightly, with Charlie Griffiths adding six points and an assist in the opening minutes, before a timeout from Coach MacDonald stopped the run for the home side, with the Bulldogs continuing to extend their lead through the third quarter, ending it up 42-89.
In the fourth, the Bulldogs really dialled the defensive intensity back up, holding Cannons to their second single-digit quarter of the game, and only two field goals, as the Suffolk side ran away to a comfortable 47-120 win.
Lewis Tebbit led the scoring for Bury, with 32 points in just 24 minutes, while Jonathan Bourne (24) and Billy Smith (15) were amongst nine of the players on the scoresheet.
Coach Arron MacDonald had this to say after the game "I came into this game looking at it as a potential banana skin. Cannons had just beaten Colchester Cobras by 50 in pre-season, and we were heading down here without a full-strength side."
"I felt that our guys paid Cannons the ultimate respect of working as hard as they could against them right to the final buzzer, and all credit to our hosts - that club is growing, and they've got some exceptional young players." - Coach MacDonald
Coach MacDonald concluded, "We played some great offensive basketball at times today, our transition both ways was good, and our ball movement and player movement is improving every week. Defensively, we've made some slight adjustments through this summer, and they got us the looks we wanted. That being said, it's one game - and you can't win any trophies in October. The challenge for us now is to build on this performance and peak at the right time as a team."
"We just wanted to get a great start to the season" said Lewis Tebbit, "Defensively, the work we've done through the off-season put us in a good place to come out and get today's result, and a really good performance from everyone in the team."
Up next for Bulldogs is newly-formed Ipswich Saxons in their second Suffolk Cup Pool Game on 14th October at Skyliner, the game tips at 6:15pm.
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