T-L Photo/KIM NORTH BRIDGEPORT’S Trevonn Ray (2) grabs a rebound in front of Steubenville Catholic Central’s Ryan Gorman during Tuesday night’s game inside John J. Havlicek Gymnasium. The Crusaders prevailed, 47-43. Bridgeport’s Cooper Dulesky (0) looks on as does the Crusaders’ Dom Argentine (33) while Luca Coonor (2) tries for a steal.

BRIDGEPORT — For much of the season, Bridgeport has dug itself an early hole that it hasn’t been able to overcome. Tuesday night was much of the same on Frank Baxter Court.

The Bulldogs trailed visiting Steubenville Catholic Central (4-12) for nearly the entire contest, and were behind by as many as 11 on three occasions, before staging a furious rally that once again fell short as the Crusaders held on for a 47-43, victory inside John J. Havlicek Gymnasium.

“Deja vu over and over,” Bridgeport (3-15) head coach Donnie Cash lamented. “We’ve got to execute better late in games. We took some ill-advised shots late when we had plenty of time left … the first shot instead of working it around for a better one.

“Not winning many games the last few years and not knowing how to win could be a reason for our lack of execution down the stretch, but we’ve got to be mentally stronger and we’re not a very mentally strong team,” he added.

Bridgeport trailed 36-29 at the end of three quarters when Steubenville Catholic Central’s Dom Argentine was fouled as the buzzer sounded. He sank a pair of free throws with no time showing.

“I told my assistant coach at the start of the fourth quarter that this game was going to go down to the wire,” Steubenville Catholic Central head coach Mike Holmes recalled. “I just had that feeling because we just couldn’t get away from them.

“I give them a lot of credit,” Holmes said of Bridgeport. “There were a couple of times when I thought we could get control of the game and start to widen the margin a little, but that never happened. They kept fighting. They increased their defensive intensity in the second half and made it tougher for us.

“The only thing we doing a good job of in the second half was taking good care of the basketball,” he added. “We weren’t giving them runouts after after a turnover, and that’s what we’ve been trying to get away from since the beginning of the season.”

Bridgeport, slowly but surely, sliced into the deficit as Dylan Gregorcic’s three from the left wing ignited a 7-2 run that made it 41-38 in favor of the Crusaders. However, following a turnover, the Bulldogs misfired and the Jack Rook cashed in four free throws for a 45-38 advantage with 1:12 left to play.

Trevonn Ray scored to make it a 5-point game, 45-40, and Cash immediately called a 30-second timeout to set up his defense.

Dom Argentine missed the front end of a bonus situation with 49 ticks remaining and John Stark’s trey made it 45-43 with 0:38 showing. Following a Bulldogs’ timeout and a key Bridgeport miss, Ryan Gorman made 1-of-2 free throws for a 46-43 reading. Another miss resulted in Argentine going to the line again, but he misfired on both attempts to kept the hosts alive.

However, as has been the case a few times this season, the Bulldogs raced the ball downcourt only to throw it away on miscommunication.

Vince Carapellotti missed the first shot, but hit the second for the final margin.

“We extended the game and it worked to our advantage with them missing foul shots,” he said of the Crusaders who missed eight free throws in the fourth quarter alone. “Little things like not getting loose balls and not boxing out in the first half really hurt us and put us in a hole again,” Cash advised.

Steubenville Catholic Central took the lead for good at 10-9 with just over two minutes left in the first quarter. It led 15-11 after one and 30-21 at the half as Carapellotti (7) and Gorman (4) combined for 11 off the bench. They finished with eight and seven, respectively.

Ray led all scorers with 16 and completed his double-double with 14 rebounds, of which eight came in the first quarter. Gregorcic added 10 and Stark nine.

Connor paced the Crusaders with 13. Argentine and Jack Rook had eight rebounds apiece.

Bridgeport hosts Barnesville Friday.