It wasn’t the prettiest win, but the Belmont Bulldogs posted their second straight senior boys basketball victory in less than a week Tuesday, 69-56 over the Thunder at Spectrum.
The Bulldogs, now 2-2 in Lower Island Div. 1 league play, led 20-2 early, but relaxed a bit after that and ran into foul trouble in the second half, allowing the Thunder to get back into the game.
Jackson Leeder led Belmont with 35 points, while Ryan Backhouse added 21.
The Bulldogs won a thrilling 72-71 win over the Blue Jags last Friday at St. Michaels University School. It was the second straight win over SMUS for Belmont, who lost 62-41 to the Blue Jags last month.
Bulldogs coach Kevin Brown, unimpressed with what he called an “emotionless” second half Tuesday, said his team “played an all-around good game” against SMUS.
Belmont was down by 13 at the half, having been burned by SMUS’ three-point shooting.
“We came out with a great attitude and effort level and really took control of the game (in the second half), slowly closing the gap,” Brown said. “We had some success with applying pressure full court and hit two very important threes at the end of the game to edge ahead.”
The key shots from Backhouse and Nathan Johal gave the visitors the lead for good.
Dontae Bull and Luke Baloran led the attack with 21 points each, while Backhouse added 14.
The Bulldogs are in Pitt Meadows for a tournament today and tomorrow.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com