JACKSON — Logan Maxfield collected a pass in the corner, and let a 3-pointer go. It found the bottom of the net. On the defensive end, Maxfield waited under the basket. He got the contact he wanted, drawing a charge.
The 3-pointer gave Athens the lead it had lost about a minute and a half before and the charge gave the Bulldogs the defensive stop they needed in their 55-52 win at Jackson on Tuesday night.
“I was nervous before that shot,” Maxfield said. “I hadn’t made one all game.”
There was still 28.5 seconds left on the clock, however.
When the Bulldogs needed foul shots to be made, they were made.
Eli Chubb made two from the line to put Athens up two. Jackson got a basket to bring it back within one, and then Isaiah Butcher made his two free throws to put the Bulldogs back up two, and the score would stand there.
Past the Maxfield shot and drawn foul, the defining part of the game for coach Mickey Cozart was those four foul shots.
“You make foul shots down the stretch, you keep your composure, you win games,” he said. “It’s just that simple.”
Athens had a lead for most of the second half, and it was built on a series of four out of five defensive possessions ending with a steal for the Bulldogs. The other possession ended with a block by Butcher.
Maxfield poked two balls out, and those steals ended with Athens shooting foul shots. Chubb caught a deflected pass, and Maxfield got a layup on the other end. Butcher’s block preceded a Maxfield layup where he was fouled, which gave the Bulldogs the lead they wouldn’t give up until late.
The one common factor in all that? Maxfield.
“Logan played like an animal all night,” Cozart said. “His energy is outstanding.”
His energy is constant for the Bulldogs. And when he plays like he did Tuesday, scoring 19 points, it produces a different level of play for the Bulldogs, one the whole team can feel.
“Hustle gets us pumped up,” Maxfield said.
This was the Bulldogs fourth-straight win. Now 7-9 and only one game behind in the Tri-Valley Conference Ohio, there is a certain confidence about the team. It can be seen all the way from Cozart to the players to the fans standing around the court postgame.
Cozart came out of the locker room fist pumping. Fans hugged players standing around, telling them how proud they are. They all seem to share a common idea, best explained by Cozart.
“Who in this area didn’t think Athens was done but the guys in the locker room and maybe some of the fans? We never thought we were done. We kept going to the gym and going to work," Cozart said.
