Bulldogs Use Second-Half Run To Rout Northern

J.J. Evans had 16 points and Brighton moved on in the KLAA crossover tournament, routing Walled Lake Northern 70-41 on Monday night.

With the victory, the Bulldogs will play in the KLAA semifinals Friday night at Brighton High School. The team is now 17-1 this season. It's only loss coming so far has been to Pinckney, who depending on the outcome of a game Wednesday, they may see Friday.

Evans was one of four Bulldogs to score in double-digits.

“He (Evans) did well. He’s shooting better,” Brighton head coach Tony Sweet said. “Earlier in the season if his shot was off he’d get a little discouraged. He’s starting to figure out the entire game.”

Evans shot 3-for-8 from beyond-the-arc and added eight rebounds.

“Everyone knows he can shoot the three,” Sweet added. “When he can put the ball on the floor and take it to the basket, like he did tonight, it makes him so much better of a player.”

Northern kept the contest close early, but Brighton outscored them 28-9 in the third quarter and once led by as many as 31 points with less than a minute remaining in the third.

“We’re a real big second half team,” Brighton senior point guard Benjamin Kil said. “We kinda realized we had to step it up. Our main game is run 'n' gun."

"Shane Dokey and I like to create for the team and we do our best to move the ball around. When the ball moves around there are a lot more open shots. Luckily, we hit them,” Kil said.

Dokey, a junior guard, led the team in scoring in the third quarter with eight and assists with three. He was one of six Bulldogs to score during the quarter.

Kil, who was held scoreless in the teams one point victory over Lakeland, scored 12 points, seven of those coming in the second half. He had four assists, however, most impressively, as a point guard he had zero turnovers.

“I was a little stressed out in the last few games,” Kil said. “I think it got to me a bit that I wanted to put a big load on myself. This time I used the team more. I just relaxed and played my game. Played like a senior, like coach said.”

Nick Schroeder, who led the team in points in their last contest, finished with 15. He led the team in a different category Monday – assists. That can be largely attributed to the attention he acquires in the post, and his ability to bounce the ball to the outside when being double-teamed.

“We got real easy buckets in the second half," Schroeder said. "We’re not the biggest team. What we like to do is get into the lane and kick it out. We work a lot on that in practice.”

Ryan Soulet led the Knights in scoring with 15 points. 

The Bulldogs will learn of their next opponent Wednesday night following the Pinckney vs. Milford game.