Photo by Kim North Bridgeport’s Jaleel Vincent (5) shoots over top of Magnolia’s Finn Loy during Friday night action from Frank Baxter Court inside the John J. Havlicek Gymnasium in Bridgeport. Vincent led a stunning comeback for the Bulldogs with 26 points. They won, 54-50.

BRIDGEPORT — In Donnie Cash’s two decades of coaching the Bridgeport boys’ basketball team, the Bulldogs have never started a season unbeaten after five games.

Thanks to a stunning second-half rally, Bridgeport accomplished that feat Friday night with a 54-50 victory over visiting Magnolia on Frank Baxter Court inside a crowded John J. Havlicek Gymnasium.

The Bulldogs trailed 34-23 at the half as the Blue Eagles’ Kingston Christen lit it up for 17 points, 13 coming in the second quarter when the visitors earned a 22-9 advantage.

“We got off to a good start in the first quarter, but so far this season the second quarter has been our downfall,” Cash said. “We, as coaches, have to figure out how to fix that. We’ve got to be able to play four full quarters if we are to realize our goals.”

However, a change of defenses in the second half allowed the Bulldogs to cage Christen and inspire their offense.

“We drew up something on the fly in the locker room as coaches. Give my assistants credit for that because we went to a diamond-and-one on Kingston (Christen) and held him to four points in the second half. He was having a great game up to that point, but we interrupted that.”

Bridgeport’s Jaleel Vincent sat out most of the second quarter after collecting his second personal foul 59 seconds in, but the junior standout more than made up for it with a 19-point second half that propelled the Bulldogs.

“We’ve got to learn how to play without fouling but that’s going to happen once in a while,” Cash said of the early foul troubles. “They are high school kids.

“I thought the maturity and the resilience of us in the second half was a big key. We got some loose balls and a lot of guys made some contributions that won’t show up in the boxscore.”

While Vincent and his teammates were scoring on nearly every trip down the floor, Magnolia had trouble holding onto it at the other end of the court.

The Blue Eagles were guilty of 13 of their 18 turnovers after the intermission.

“We let one slip away tonight,” said veteran Magnolia head coach Dave Tallman. “Bridgeport is a veteran team and I have four new starters. I was really proud of the way we played. We battled. We just don’t have that experience that they had.”

Bridgeport closed a 13-point gap early in the second half to 43-36 with a quarter to play. Magnolia took a 48-42 advantage with 4:15 left when Christen knocked down a jumper in the lane.

However, Vincent led a 12-0 run with nine straight markers. Jaki Threet and Evan Clark connected on some clutch free throws down the stretch to seal the deal.

While Vincent, who is nearing 1,000 points for his career, was the only twin figure scorer for Bridgeport, he was aided by a balanced supporting cast. Coen Brinker finished with eight, Threet seven and Clark six.

“That No. 5 is really good and we knew that going in,” Tallman said of Vincent.

Christen, who netted his 1,000th career point in Thursday’s win at Valley, finished with 22. Jessup Higgins added 13.

“They double-teamed him in the second half,” Tallman said of Christen. “I told the kids it’s like hockey. When they double a guy, someone is open and we’ve got to find that guy. Right now it’s just about player development.”

Both teams garnered 25 rebounds as Jameil McKennen paced the Bulldogs with nine, while Vincent charted five boards and half-a-dozen steals. Noah Hood had nine boards for Magnolia.

Bridgeport ended with 10 turnovers, none in the fourth quarter and only three in the second half.

The Bulldogs are idle until after Christmas when they host Shadyside on Saturday, Dec. 27 and meet Wellsville a day later in the Todd Kalivoda Holiday Classic at Toronto. Meanwhile, Magnolia is back on the court Tuesday against visiting Cameron.

Bridgeport and Magnolia square off again on Jan. 2 in New Martinsville.