Spivey, Bulldogs Heating Up Heading Into Postseason
Photo by Kailee Means
The Clay County Bulldogs currently sit at first place in the district at 23-3 and 12-2 in league play with one regular season game left.
It helps that they’ve won 10 of their last 11 games and have given up more than 55 points only once. That is just a testament to how much their defense has improved, according to head coach Rob Edwards.
“Night in and night out, the kids play hard,” Edwards said. “We do a pretty good job of identifying the other team’s best scorers and trying to take those guys away, for the most part. We try to take away what other teams do best and what they like to do, and that’s generally what we look at as far as game plan.”
Edwards also recognize that it’s a team-effort, and they need everyone to communicate and play at a high level for the team to succeed.
“If I had to pick our best defender, it’s probably Gunnar Silk,” Edwards said. “He’s our best perimeter defender and he usually guards the other team’s best player, unless it’s a post player. Then it that case, it’s Jake Ashlock. Then guys like Grant (Strong) and Jeff (Spivey) and Mason (Sharp) all pitch in and guard their guy, but if we need a double-team, they’re the guys that help there.”
Spivey in particular has been huge for the Bulldogs as of late, as his jump-shot is starting to fall at a consistent rate. It wasn’t always that way, as he struggled early in the season in the scoring department.
“He struggled with his shot early in the year,” Edwards said. “Around Christmas time, it started coming around. I think he’s just adjusting to the high school game for the most part, like being able to get his shot off a little quicker. He’s also been a good defender on the other end for us … he does a lot of things really well.”
That’s instrumental for this team’s success, because it forces teams to guard the Bulldogs best players one-on-one. They can’t collapse on Ashlock in the paint and they can’t simply double Strong on the perimeter, because Spivey can make them pay from three.
“It helps a lot,” Edwards said. “When Jeff makes three or four threes a game, it takes a lot of pressure off of Jake having to finish inside, and off of Grant having to get his own shot and create for other people … it’s big when you have guys step up like Jeff has the past few weeks.”
Spivey and the Bulldogs will wrap up their regular season on Friday when they take on Van Buren.
