On Wednesday, December 11th Ionia hosted Portland for their season finale!  The Bulldogs battled the Raiders the entire game despite appearing to be outnumbered at times.  

Another disappointing 2nd quarter where they were outscored 19-9 contributed to a 32-19 deficit at halftime.  After regrouping, the team  did a better job in the second half.  The Bulldogs outscored Portland 17-13 in the 3rd quarter as Jacob Roman scored 10 of his team-high 23 points.  Ionia picked up the scoring even more in the 4th quarter outscoring the Raiders 20-12 but time ran out with Portland victorious 57-56.  

Tonight was the highest point total for the season and featured 9 more 3-point baskets.  Ionia outscored Portland from the field 51-45 but were inexplicably outshot 20-7 from the foul line.  Besides Roman’s 23 points (4 3-pointers), Neithan Cruz-Pagan scored 17 points (3 3-pointers), Evan White (7), Karson Crosby (5) and Austin Henry (4) rounded out the scoring.  Evan White’s 9 rebounds led Ionia while Austin Henry added 5.  Cruz-Pagan led with 5 assists while Hudson Hawley had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.  Evan White also had 3 steals.

The disappointing loss leaves Ionia with a final record of 1 win and 9 losses.  The Dawgs were more competitive than their record might indicate as 4 of their losses were by 10 points or less.  The team showed it’s marksmanship by hitting 41 3-point baskets in their 10 games - 28 in the last 5.