DELBARTON — Corey Cook and Dave Hatfield were hot-handed Friday night as they led the Burch Bulldogs over the visiting Gilbert Lions, 51-45, Friday night at Delbarton.

Cook scored a game-high 17 points, 15 of which came from hitting five 3-pointers. Three of those 3s came in the Bulldogs’ big third quarter, in which the hosts outscored the Lions, 19-11, to go up 40-30 heading into the final quarter.

“Corey played great,” Burch Coach Kevin Hatfield said of his pint-sized point guard. “He shot well. He took care of the ball well. He did a really good job.”

Hatfield was next in scoring for Burch, with 14 points, eight of which were scored in the third and four in the fourth to help the Bulldogs hold off the rallying Lions.

The Bulldogs outscored the Lions 10-8 in the first quarter and then the two teams each scored 11 in the second to go into the halftime break with Burch holding a 21-19 lead. Burch got eight points off a pair of 3-pointers and a

Burch opened the second half with six straight points from Hatfield that gave Burch a 27-21 lead and the scoring run was capped by a Cook trey that made it 30-21 with 6:07 left in the third.

“I thought when we went up 30-21, they took a timeout and we came out flat like we’d won the ballgame or something and then they go on a 9-2 run and then I have to call a timeout and I told me guys ‘Hey, they went on a run so we need to go on a run,” Coach Hatfield said.

Gilbert cut it to 30-25 and Hatfield pushed the Burch lead out to seven, 32-25, before the Lions got two foul shots from Kyle Smith and a 3-pointer from Cody Houch to cut the Gilbert deficit to 32-30 with 4:11 remaining in the third.

But, following a Gilbert turnover, Cook sank another 3 to make it 35-30 and Cody Crum made a shot from the right corner to reclaim a seven point lead, 37-30, for the Bulldogs.

Cook finished off the third quarter with his final trifecta of the night to give Burch a 40-30 lead at the end of three periods.

Gilbert gave Burch a scare early in the fourth quarter when Aaron Birchfield scored a 3-pointer to start a 6-0 run by the Lions. Kyle Smith hit a shot from the paint and then made a foul shot to cut the Burch advantage to 40-36 with 6:48 left in the game.

Burch's Jacob Stratton then hit a big putback that kept the Bulldogs eight points ahead. The Lions' Dalton Bailey hit a 3 from the key to make it 44-39 with 5:28 to go.

Hatfield scored again at the 4:11 mark making it a seven-point game again at 46-39, but Gilbert kept chipping away at the BHS lead with a Birchfield 3 that made it 46-42.

A free throw from Ryan Hatfield gave Burch a 47-42 lead with 1:27 and kept Gilbert from tying the game when Bailey hit another 3 that made it 47-45 with 34 ticks left on the fourth-quarter clock.

With the Bulldogs in possession of the ball, all Gilbert could do was foul.

Ryan Hatfield made two foul shots that made it 49-45 and Stratton came up with a big rebound off an errant Birchfield 3-pointer.

"That was a big rebound by Jake," Coach Hatfield said. "In the first half he made a couple mental errors, but, in the second half, he did a better job. Jake and Dave and the rest of them hit the boards hard in that last four minutes. I thought they did a good job at the end."

Ryan Hatfield took the ball down the court and, with 10 seconds left in the game, was fouled by Bailey and the Burch point guard sank both foul shots to nail the win shut.

"These guys are young and we made a ton of mistakes that could have lost the game," Coach Hatfield said. "But, like I told them in the locker room, I'm proud of them. They fought hard and showed a little heart and got after it. We do have to fix some things. We have to fix our last three minutes when we're up six or seven points. We can't take bad shots or make stupid turnovers.”

The win improves Burch to 5-8, while Gilbert evens out at 5-5 with the loss.

Hatfield said foul trouble hurt the Bulldogs. Hill fouled out with 3:38 remaining in the game.

Stratton led the Bulldogs on the boards with 10 rebounds. He scored eight points and gave three assists. Ryan Hatfield was next with five points, three rebounds and two assists. Keith Hill added three points, seven rebounds, five assists and one shot block to the Burch totals. Crum scored two, gave two assists and grabbed a pair of rebounds. Zac Runyon scored two points and got a steal and a rebound. Garbiel Vinson pulled down two rebounds.

Cook reeled in three rebounds and gave three assists and Hatfield yanked down three rebounds, gave two assists and got a steal.

Burch made 19 field goals, including five Cook 3s. From the foul line, the Dogs made 8-of-11. Ryan Hatfield made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 1:27 of the game to prevent a Gilbert win.

The Lions were led by Smith with 15 points, while Birchfield and Bailey each finished with 10 and Houck and Ashton Cline each scored five.

The Lions made 15 field goals, including six 3-pointers. From the foul line, Gilbert sank 9-of-11 charity tosses.

"They didn't quit," Gilbert Coach Walt Cline said of his team's performance. "Corey Cook was red hot. We stuck a man on him to try to quiet him down a bit because he was shooting us out of the ballgame. We contained him a little bit and got back into the ballgame, but time was our enemy there at the end.

"Burch outhustled us. They played well. They got after it and seemed like they wanted it more than we did. They deserved it. I told my guys they were in for a battle. We seemed flat and didn't have any energy until we made that run at the end."

The Bulldogs returned to action last night hosting fifth-ranked Matewan. Coverage of that game will appear in Monday's edition due to the early Sunday edition deadlines.

Gilbert returns to action Tuesday hosting Matewan.

GIRLS — Gilbert 47, Burch 37

DELBARTON -- The Gilbert Lady Lions got 20 points from Crystal Lester en route to a big, 47-37 win over Mingo County rival Burch Friday night at Delbarton.

Lester scored eight of her points in the second half to help the Lions to a 23-16 lead at halftime, then scored nine points in the fourth quarter to give her team the 10-point victory.

After an even first quarter, the Lady Lions outscored Burch 15-8 to go up by seven at the intermission. They then topped the Lady Bulldogs 7-6 in the third quarter and put the icing on the cake by outpointing Burch 17-16 in the final stanza for the win.

Britnee Gibson scored six for Gilbert, Keasha Browning and Kirsten Brown each netted five and Megan Thomas scored four.

The Lady Lions made 15 field goals, including a trio of 3-pointers, two of which were made by Gibson. Gilbert also sank 14-of-19 foul shots.

"I thought early on, for some reason, we weren't shooting the ball well," Gilbert Coach Don Taylor said. "But, once we started making some of our shots, it eased up some. I thought we picked up our defensive intensity in the second quarter. Our defense makes us go. I'd love to score 80, but, the truth is, our defense is our bread and butter. Once we clamped down, we did pretty good. I thought both teams played better than they did at our place.

"We made our foul shots down the stretch when we needed to. We got good play off the bench. I thought everybody that came in contributed and done what we needed done."

Burch Coach Melvin Cunningham praised the Lady Lions for a job well done.

"You have to tip your hat to Gilbert. Crystal Lester was amazing. She did everything and then some," Coach Cunningham said. "We were a step slow, the whole game. We have to come out and play with better effort and better energy."

Burch was paced by Stephanie Brock with eight fourth-quarter points. Brock also grabbed a rebound and gave an assist. Kaci Slone was next with seven points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists. Krista Edwards, returning to the lineup after suffering a lengthy illness, scored six points, grabbed four points and got a steal. Kim Smith scored six, got four rebounds and three steals, gave three assists and blocked three shots.

Haley Church netted five points and led the Lady Dogs on the boards with seven rebounds. She also gave two assists and got a steal. Her older sister, Hilary Church, also scored five. Hilary Church grabbed a pair of rebounds, gave an assist and got a steal. Charity Ferguson grabbed a rebound and gave an assist. Kayla Cisco grabbed one board for Burch.

The Lady Bulldogs scored 13 field goals and made 11-of-22 free throws.

With the win, Gilbert improves to 13-3 on the year, while Burch falls to 8-5. The Lady Lions return to action Monday at Westside, then return home for another match against Westside on Wednesday.

Burch returned to action last night at home against Matewan. Coverage of the game will appear in Monday's edition due to early Sunday edition deadlines.

Burch then plays at Tolsia on Monday and at Van in a girls/boys double-header on Tuesday. The Lady Dogs then travel to Charleston Catholic on Wednesday.