The Bowie Jackrabbits dropped their third straight game on senior night Friday against Jacksboro.
The Tigers won 54-44 against the Jackrabbits as they just played better than Bowie all of the night.
The Jackrabbits were coming off a disappointing loss on the road at Iowa Park, a team Bowie narrowly beat in the first round of district play and also needs to hold off for the fourth spot in district.
Jacksboro was a spot back of the Hawks even, with one win in district. Still, the Jackrabbits knew it would be tough as Bowie only escaped with a 38-35 win the first time the two teams played earlier in January.
The Jackrabbits had prepared for a new look defenses were throwing at them, with teams trying to shadow and deny the ball to Bowie’s leading scorer Andrew Sandhoff. The Tigers also threw a press defense at the Jackrabbits, but Bowie was not bothered early on.
Still, the team was having trouble scoring out of the gate as the flow of the offense was disrupted and other shots were tough.
Rayder Mann made a couple of 3-pointers, but it was not enough to keep up with Jacksboro.
The Tigers offense came out playing great. While Bowie paid plenty of attention to the Tiger’s big post player, it was a team effort as Jacksboro had all five of its starters making at least one basket against the Jackrabbits zone defense. The Tigers also created second and third chances with their offensive rebounding early on.
Jacksboro led 18-8 after the first quarter.
Even with Bowie changing defenses to man-to-man, it did not make things easier. The Tigers were running several actions off of screens that made things tough.
The Jackrabbits were still struggling to find consistent ways to score. The team made two 3-pointers in the second quarter, but could not find ways to attack the paint more often against Jacksboro’s front line.
Bowie trailed 31-19 at halftime.
The Jackrabbits had to try something drastic to try and get back into the game. Bowie started employing a full-court press so it could maybe get some transition opportunities going from its defense.
It worked in a sense as the Jackrabbits found ways to attack the paint and not just drive and kick for 3-point shots.
Unfortunately, it was a double-edged sword as Jacksboro broke through the press several times and could equal a score with a quick basket of its own.
The Tigers lead grew and they led 48-30 heading into the fourth quarter.
Bowie’s defensive intensity grew down so much and the team was able to convert some turnovers into transition baskets as the Jackrabbits scored the most points in any other quarter.
Unfortunately, it would not have been enough even if Bowie had shut out Jacksboro in the final period. The Tigers from the start slowed their pace down and was trying to run clock to limit the amount of time the Jackrabbits had to come back.
Despite holding Jacksboro to only one basket and six points as the Tigers went only 4-12 from the free throw line, Bowie ran out of time.
Jacksboro won 54-44.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.