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Sometimes when you struggle offensively you have to turn to something else. In Friday night’s game with the Elgin Owls, the Altus High Bulldogs went to their defense and it turned out well. When it was over, the Bulldogs walked away with a 55-33 victory over Elgin.

It was a struggle to say the least for the Bulldogs offensively.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well from the outside,” AHS Coach Rick Bull said. “Not like we have been.”

In the first half it was a man-to-man defense that Altus. In the second half it was a 1-3-1 trap plus some full-court pressure that Elgin couldn’t deal with.

“Defense was never an issue,” Bull said. “We were man-to-man in the first half and held them to 20. We went to a 1-3-1 trap in the second half just to give them a different look and we held them to 13 (in the second half).”

Altus led 21-20 at halftime and trailed only briefly in the early part of the third quarter.

It was the pressure defense in the third quarter that created turnovers and resulted in many easy lay ups which broke the game open.

Nico Maldonado hit a three-point shot with 7:19 left in the third period to give the Bulldogs a 24-22 lead, a lead they would never give up.

That shot began a 9-0 run to make it 30-22. Elgin never got back into as the Bulldogs kept the pressure on and kept adding to their lead.

Kasen Warren scored 16 points to lead Altus. Devin Wilkerson tallied 12 points.

Altus is now 9-9 on the year. They will host Woodward in the final home game of the season on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

Seniors will be honored prior to the game.

Altus should find out Thursday where they will be playing in Class 5A Regional Tournament. The Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association is expected to make the announcements on that day.

Altus 55, Elgin 33

Altus - Ybarra 2-0-4, Shivers 1-0-2, Warren 8-0-16, Wilkerson 5-1-12, M. Knight 3-0-6, Cross 0-1-1, Fernandez 2-0-4, Ward 1-0-3. Maldonado 2-0-6, Cook 0-1-1. Totals: 24-3-55. 3 point goals - Maldonado, Ward, Wilkerson

Elgin - Rogers 0-3-3, Rankin 8-4-20, Johnson 2-1-5, Koehler 1-0-2, Vaughan 1-0-3. Totals: 12-8-33. 3 point goals - Vaughan

Altus11 10 1816 - 55

Elgin71349 - 33