Trey Sapp and the Buccaneers had many opportunities at the free throw line, but they couldn't convert them into points. 

LIVE OAK — Suwannee was hoping to put on a good show for the large student crowd in attendance during Thursday’s in-school game.

The Bulldogs did just that, entertaining the crowd with with two huge dunks and some uptempo play in a 66-37 win against Branford.

Brant Ulmer scored the first points of the second half with his dunk. A minute later, Jared Gardner snuck out early on the fast break and rocked the rim to give SHS a 29-13 lead.

“We did some cherry picking to get the crowd into it,” said Bulldogs coach Jeremy Ulmer. “It got them pumped up.”

While it was Suwannee’s big men who got the crowd excited, it was the Bulldogs’ guards who did most of the scoring. Tyrece Freeman connected on three 3-pointers and scored 17 points while freshman Decalvion Bennett added 11 points. 

The Buccaneers shot well against Suwannee in a 68-53 loss on Jan. 23. But they didn’t have the touch from 3-point range or at the foul line on Thursday. BHS shot just 5 of 13 from the free throw line in the first half and went into halftime down 23-13.

“Just didn’t make the free throws. Self-inflicted,” said Branford coach Richie Frye. “At halftime, if we would have made our free throws we would have been within two points.” 

The Bulldogs started to pull away in the third quarter and ended up outscoring Branford 43-24 in the second half. 

With the game already in hand, Uriel Maya finally knocked down some shots for Branford in the second half, finishing with a team-high eight points.

Jordan James had 11 second-half points for Suwannee. Jeremiah Baptiste had 10 points and eight rebounds coming off the bench for the Bulldogs. 

UP NEXT:  Suwannee (5-15) hosts Lafayette on Thursday in its regular-season finale. Branford is off next week and won’t return to action until Feb. 12 for the start of the district tournament at Dixie County. 

Box score

Branford	4	9	5	19	—	37
Suwannee	19	4	22	21	—	66

Suwannee — Freeman 17, James 11, Bennett 11, Baptiste 10, Ulmer 7, Parker 6, Gardner 4

Branford — Maya 8, Glass 7, Reaves 6, Sapp 5, Hernandez 5, Dowdy 2, Shonk 2, Kelley 2