Lin’s 26 points fuel rally that carries Dogs to 48-41 GRC win

Gallatin’s boys battled through a 0-for-16 shooting start from the field and rallied from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Albany, 48-41, last Friday night on the road.

"We were down 15 in the third quarter and I pretty much ran through all nine of my regulars in the first two to three minutes, just trying to find a group that worked," said Bulldog coach Jeremy Slaughter. "We were down nine going into the fourth quarter and just chipped away until Derrick (Lin) hit a three to put us up one with about three minutes left," he added.

Lin, who finished with a career-high 26 points, canned all nine of his free throw attempts in the fourth quarter (12 for 12 for the game). Twenty-six was also the number of fourth quarter points the Bulldogs scored to pull out a victory.

"Donovan Stout gave us some energy and played key minutes off the bench," Slaughter said. "I also thought Wesley Cole had a good game for us defensively."

The Bulldogs hit only two of 26 first half shots and forced several looks from the field, said Coach Slaughter, but he credited solid defense by the Warriors for much of Gallatin’s shooting woes.

"It was good to see our kids battle back and find a way to win a game that was really tough," Slaughter said. "We did not have any momentum until very late in the game, and it would have been pretty easy for our kids to just give up but they didn’t," he added.

Seven other Bulldogs scored, in addition to Lin. Dexter Daniel added six points and Brandon Hunt five for Gallatin, which moved to 2-1 in Grand River Conference play. Isaac Mattis and Preston Turley each finished with three points. Cole and Stout hit one bucket each. Chris Cameron contributed once from the foul line for the Bulldogs.