(above photo) Yiannis Bowden (25) scores for Glenn in first half action.

With still a chance to enter the state playoffs as the #1 seed from the Piedmont Triad 4A Conference, the Glenn Bobcats ran into a hot shooting Viking squad from Northwest Guilford and came up a little short, losing 63-57. Glenn will now be a #3 seed when the state playoffs begin next week. The brackets for the state playoffs will be announced this weekend and as soon as we know who Glenn will be playing we will put it on the web site. In Friday night’s PTC tournament championship game, SW Guilford defeated East Forsyth 82-67. That sets the seeding from the PTC as follows, #1 NW Guilford, #2 SW Guilford, #3 Glenn, and #4 East Forsyth.

As for today’s game, the Bobcats put Thursday night’s loss to East behind them and came to play tonight. Trey Lofton scored 10 first half points to lead the Bobcats to a 10 point at the break. Coach Gray started the game with a different line up tonight and got some quality minutes from Yiannis Bowden who pulled down 6 rebounds to go with his 9 points. The first sixteen minutes of play saw the Bobcats control the game with good all around play.

The second half was a different story. The Vikings got hot from beyond the arc, draining 6 three pointers in the second half. NW steadily climbed back into the game, as their outside shooting came alive, and cut Glenn’s lead down to 3 points after three quarters of play.

While NW used their outside shooting to get back into the ball game, the difference in this game was at the free throw line. The Vikings converted 20 of 27 from the stripe, while the Bobcats only attempted 14, making 10.

Scoring 20 points from the line, and hitting a total of 9 three point shots was just too much to overcome for the Bobcats. You either live by the three pointer, or you die by the three pointer. Tonight NW got hot at the right time and snatched a win away from the Bobcats.

Cody Hylton from NW led all scorers with 18 points. Hylton was red hot from the line, hitting 10 of 11 attempts, with his last eight in a row coming down the stretch to seal the victory for the Vikings. Nick Powell, who hit 3 three pointers, added 15 points for NW. Hunter Clary tallied 14 points, hitting 4 from three point land.

Matt Hodges was the top scorer for Glenn with 16 points, followed by Trey Lofton with 14. Lofton also led the team in rebounds, hauling in 13.

This was the fourth time this season that Glenn has played on the Southwest Guilford floor, and they have yet to come away with a win. Coach Gray was well aware of that fact, “this gym, man, we are 0 and 4 in this gym,” said Gray after Friday’s game.

Coach Gray said his team will regroup and focus on the task at hand, the state playoffs. “It won’t be easy by any means, we’ll be on the road and every game is a must win,” said Gray.

Gray was disappointed in tonight’s loss, “but we won the conference, we qualified for the state playoffs, we did some good things this year, this team went through some rough times and always fought back and I am really proud of them.”

We wish the Bobcats luck in the upcoming state playoffs. I think the ‘cats still have a little left in the tank and whoever they face in the first round will certainly get Glenn’s best shot.

Go Bobcats!!!