The Cornersville Bulldogs snapped a two-game losing streak on Monday night by whipping the Richland Raiders 34-16 at home to run their record to 5-4 on the season.

Having defeated Richland 43-17 in their previous encounter on Oct. 31, the Bulldogs once again had a relatively easy time disposing of their archrival and built an 18-7 lead in the first half before outscoring the Raiders 16-9 over the final two quarters to claim the 18-point victory.

Hitting target

Aided by an 8-of-13 shooting performance in the first quarter, the Bulldogs finished with a 13-7 advantage in field goals and outscored Richland 7-1 at the foul line. Cornersville also outrebounded the Raiders 27-23 and held a 15-10 advantage on the offensive boards.

Richland had trouble breaking the Bulldogs' full court press for the second straight game, as CMS recorded 21 steals en route to forcing 36 Raider turnovers.

Forward Darien Bush led the Bulldogs' offensive attack by pouring in a career high 16 points to go along with six rebounds and five steals.

"Darien was tremendous as far as being aggressive and getting rebounds. I told him I wanted him to battle for rebounds and he did that," said Cornersville coach Gerard Randolph.

Scoring

Kolbe McMahon tallied nine points, eight rebounds, and six steals as well, while Cody Umbles added six points. Eli Woodard and Riley Wickberg rounded out the scoring for CMS with two and one point respectively.

Walker Sumners paced Richland with seven points, while Hunter Inman notched three points. Gaige Lane and Bryce Bridges also chipped in two points apiece for the Raiders.

The Bulldogs were firing on all cylinders at the start of the game and built an 18-0 lead in the first quarter on the strength of 11 points from Bush and seven points from McMahon.

Starters set tone

"I was very pleased with how we came out early. Our starters came out and set the tone and got us a big lead," said Randolph.

With Randolph clearing his bench in the second period, Richland outscored Cornersville 7-0 in the stanza to narrow the gap to 18-7 at halftime.

Sumners then converted a three-point play early in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 18-10, but the Bulldogs quickly restored order and put together a 15-2 run behind five points from Bush and four points from Umbles to forge a 33-12 lead with 4:19 left in the fourth period before coasting to the 34-16 win.