Bulldogs Long Range Shooting Too Much for the Huskies
- RoMoAthletics
- Jan 10
- 3 min read
January 10th, 2026
Coach Miller couldn’t ask for a better time for 6’4” Sr sniper Cooper Gideon to regain his shooting touch. Trailing 2-4, Gideon hits 3 from downtown in a row to put the Bulldogs up 11-8, a lead that they would not surrender.
In a tough matchup at the Thousand Hills Battle in Branson Shootout between the #4 ranked team in Kansas, Blue Valley Northwest and the #4 ranked Class 6 Rolla Bulldogs, it was the 3 ball that proved to be the difference in the game.
Bulldogs on Fire
Gideon’s hot start proved to be contagious, as the Dawgs went 6 for 10 from 3 as a team in the 1st quarter and 8 for 15 in the half. Rolla finished the game shooting 50% from the 3-pt line on 13 of 26 shooting.
Meanwhile, the Huskies shooting woes from behind the circle started in the opening stanza where they were 0-4 and didn’t get much better throughout the contest hitting on only 5 of 26 attempts for 19%.
Following Gideon’s lead, it was time for 6’4” Sr PG, Ethan Brown to take over for the Bulldogs. The 2 time All-Stater who has signed with the University of Illinois, put up 16 points in the first half while handing out 5 assists heading into the intermission with a 36-22 lead.
Full Court D
Both teams started off by extending the defense full court which established a frenetic pace and set a tone for the contest. While the Bulldogs are known for their switching defenses in the half and full court, the Huskies kept their full court press on the entire game.
6’1 Sr guard Landen Richter came off the bench to help navigate the Husky press distributing 3 assists as well as helping with the Bulldog pressure D that they were using to disrupt the Husky offense.
While the Husky full court defense was constant, the Bulldogs were able to handle it as they took advantage of the aggressive play and continuously found the open man resulting in 20 assists as a team while only committing 7 turnovers.
Despite the limited turnovers, the Huskies were able to score in transition more effectively than the Bulldogs 15 to 9.
Battle in the Paint
With leading rebounder and double digit scorer, 6’8” Sr forward Paxton Ledbetter dealing with some nagging injuries, the Bulldogs were thankful the 3 ball was falling as they were outscored 32-22 in the paint.
The physical play made it difficult to attack the rim as whistles and the resulting free throws were hard to come by. No free throws were shot in Q1 and only 3 in the first half which was surprising how physical the play was throughout the game. The Bulldogs only shot 39% from 2 while the Huskies shot 49%.
With Ledbetter limited, 6’4” Sr forward Easton Smith and 6’5” Sr forward Nash Robinson picked up the slack with each netting 7 points.
The Huskies pounded the offensive glass outrebounding the Bulldogs 18-9 resulting in 16 second chance points versus 8 for the Bulldogs.
Wrap Up
Bulldogs move to 11-1 on the season. Rolla finished with 3 players in double figures. Brown finished with a game high 31 points going 5-6 from 3 and 6-6 from the FT line while handing out 9 assists. Gideon finished with 15 points on 5 for 8 shooting from deep. 6’2” Sr guard Jenson Thomas finished with 10 points going 2-4 from 3.
Up Next:
#2 Class 4 St. Joe Benton (11-1)
Saturday 1pm at the Thousand Hills Battle in Branson Shootout
Finished 2nd last year in State to Vashon
Defeated Branson Friday 54-40
Only loss was to Blue Valley Northwest earlier this week
STATS
The individual scoring (FG-FT-TP):
Blue Valley Northwest: McGibboney 3-3-9, Ihm 3-0-8, Fritz 1-0-2, Chapman 4-1-11, Bwami 4-3-11, Matteoni 7-0-14, Elliott 2-6-11
Rolla: Thomas 4-1-10, Richter 0-2-2, Gideon 5-0-15, Ledbetter 2-0-2, Brown 11-6-31, Smith 3-1-7, Robinson 2-2-7
The score by periods:
TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 F
Blue Valley NW 12 10 21 23 66
Rolla 20 16 19 23 78
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