The Cornersville Bulldogs hosted the Forrest Rockets in the nightcap of Monday night’s intra-county rivalry doubleheader.

The Bulldogs could not get their shots to fall and the Rockets got a balanced scoring attack from three of their five starters, who all tallied in double figures as Forrest rolled to a 47-25 victory over the Bulldogs.

The Forrest win was the 25th straight over the Bulldogs, dating back to February 8, 2002 when Cornersville beat the Rockets 55-48 at Chapel Hill.

The Bulldogs were led in scoring by Bryce Woodard with 10 points and Michael Ashley with seven.

The Rockets controlled the tip and Forrest’s Andrew Timmons lofted a 3-pointer that missed, but Timmons was fouled and went to the free throw line to shoot three free throws.

Timmons missed the first free throw, but in a ruling that was consistent throughout both games, the referee ruled a Cornersville player touched the lane line and the Forrest player was awarded an extra shot which he promptly went on to hit as well as the next two.

The onset of cold shooting by the Bulldogs began as Forrest converted by getting two baskets by Walker Herring, the second was off a teammate’s miss to put the Rockets up 7-0.

Cornersville’s Kaden Allen broke the Bulldogs’ dry spell with a basket and Woodard banged home a 3-pointer then added a free throw as the Bulldogs closed the gap to four points at 10-6 at the end of the first period.

Eli Welch sank two free throws for the Bulldogs to start the second quarter to cut the Rocket lead to two points at 10-8.

Just as free throws following a missed three-point shot in the first quarter had helped the Rockets, a foul again sent Hunter Bennett to the line and he too sank all three to put Forrest up by five points 13-8.

Forrest then began to take control of the game as Bennett, Deason Jones, and Herring paced the Rockets by making shots.

Cornersville was growing colder from the field and only hit free throws while falling further behind and the Rockets took a 26-13 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The third quarter saw Cornersville’s shots still not falling and the Rockets coasting, maintaining their lead and extending the margin to 23 points at the end of the third quarter at 38-15.

The fourth quarter saw substitutes from both sides on the floor and as is the case, the play became ragged.

The Bulldogs have more length this year with Welch, Allen and freshman Ben Franklin, something that has been absent in past years.

Hopefully, the current cold shooting will pass as Woodard and Ashley should break out and shoot the ball as they have shown in the past.

Ashley can be deadly with his rainbow shots and Andrew Santini is a deep threat as well.

Mix that all in with the big guys down low and the early season shooting woes can be remedied.

Cornersville coach Peyton Newton, understandably subdued after the loss said, “We started out slow and missed some shots but we need to find ways to offset that by doing other things, rebounding, taking care of the ball, so that when the shots do not fall, we can make up the difference.”

“We have got size and we need to take advantage of that. We need to fix some things and we will.”

Forrest 10 16 12 9-47

Cornersville 6 7 2 10-25

Forrest (47): Deason Jones 14, Walker Herring 12, Hunter Bennett 11, Cole Perryman 6, Andrew Timmons 4.

Three-Point Goals (6): Jones 2, Bennett 2, Perryman, Herring.

Free Throws (17-for-19): Bennett 5-for-6, Jones 4-for-4, Timmons 4-for-4, Perryman 3-for-3, Herring 1-for-2.

Cornersville (25): Bryce Woodard 10, Michael Ashley 7, Wallace Francis 2, Eli Welch 2, Kaden Allen 2, Blaine Woodard 1, Lexi Mitchell 1.

Three-Point Goals (1): Woodard 3.

Free Throws (13-for-18): Woodard 7-for-8, Welch 2-for-2, Ashley 1-for-2, Francis 2-for-4, Mitchell 1-for-2.

Halftime Score: Forrest 26, Cornersville 13.