NATCHEZ &045; Natchez High didn’t have to worry about finishing off somebody down the stretch for a win.

The Bulldogs took care of that way before the stretch came.

A steady dose of half-court pressure out of the 2-3 zone was enough to bury Vidalia early, and the Bulldogs ran away with a 64-35 win for their first win of the season. After two losses to start the season in games that were decided at the very end, this time the Bulldogs controlled from the start and stayed with it.

&uot;We collapsed mentally,&uot; junior forward Jeremy Houston said of the team’s losses to Wilkinson County and Franklin County. &uot;It was like we’d have a big lead but just didn’t finish. I guess tonight Coach (Robert) Cade came in the locker room and gave us the motivation to go out there and win. He said to go out there and kill ’em.&uot;

The Bulldogs’ 20-2 lead at the end of the first quarter set the tone for the contest of the schools who haven’t met on the hardwood in a couple of years. The Vikings, playing in their second game after losing four of five starters from a year ago, struggled with the pressure early on and never cut it within 17 until late in the game.

&uot;We just came out with some intensity,&uot; senior guard LeJuan Culbert said. &uot;We were ready to take this team. We’ve been down, and we were ready to come out and play tough. It’s a good start for us, and we know what we need to work on. It’ll help us for the rest of the season, especially Tuesday when we play Jefferson County.&uot;

The Vikings struggled with the zone pressure, and they couldn’t get much shots out of it. The only bucket of the first quarter came from Jarvis Whitley at the 6:40 mark, and from there the Bulldogs finished the quarter on a 17-0 run with Charles Cothern putting in a bucket with 14 seconds left.

Rodney Gray scored at the start of the second quarter, and Keyshun Tinsley put in a layup off a steal with 7:03 left for a 24-4 lead.

&uot;They really did (bring the pressure), and it forced us to shoot jumpers &045; something I didn’t want (us) to do,&uot; Vidalia head coach Robert Sanders said. &uot;Once I finally got them to get inside, we did a little better. We have three people returning who played a lot last year. We can shoot, but we’re just not patient enough. We take the first opportunity that comes to us instead of the best opportunity.&uot;

The Bulldogs were able to keep bringing it inside to keep enough separation on the scoreboard. The defense picked up a big break midway through the second quarter when Culbert got a steal and hit a breaking Rodney Gray down the floor for a layup at the 4:02 mark for a 29-8 lead.

Natchez led 32-14 at halftime and had buckets from Gray and Houston to start the second half with a 36-14 lead a minute in.

&uot;The first two games we played we were there, but we picked up our intensity in the third game,&uot; Culbert said. &uot;We started going inside, and that’s when shots started falling from the outside. Instead of shooting outside, our big guys played well inside. In the second half we kind of got sluggish, but we picked it at the end and put the game away.&uot;

The Bulldogs got key inside buckets early in the game against Vidalia’s 1-2-2 defense and didn’t need to fire away from the perimeter. Houston put in a bucket from close range with 4:30 left in the third to give the Bulldogs their biggest lead at 42-17, and post Marvin Stampley put in a bucket with six seconds left in the third to put the lead at 46-25 heading into the fourth quarter.

&uot;We were in our 1-2-2, and we didn’t do our rotation like we should have,&uot; Sanders said. &uot;We got some new guys in Friday, but they’re learning. We just went over it three days this week. We’ll get it down pat between now and district time.&uot;

The lead grew to 30 midway through the fourth when the Bulldogs went on a 13-2 run that Cothern finished when he canned a short jumper for a 59-29 lead at the 3:29 mark. Jarvis Whitley, who early tossed in the game’s only 3-pointer, hit one of two free throws just after Cothern’s bucket to stop the run.

&uot;We’ve still got to work on (our offense),&uot; Houston said. &uot;We’ve still got a lot of work to do. When we can bring it inside, it’ll open up our outside game. I don’t think anybody can stop us when we’re doing that.&uot;

Gray led the Bulldogs with 15 points. Whitley and Cortland Johnson led the Vikings with seven points apiece.